Problem Child
by FreakyGreenEyes123
Summary: What if Callie wasn't the only teen taken in by the Fosters from the beginning? What would've happened differently if another girl was involved? (Continuing this fic with Dramatic-ADD-Having-Ass-Writer's permission)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

**Lena's POV**

I knew that Stef was going to kill me, when she realized that David from CPS was dropping off another girl at any second now.

She was mad as it was, when she realized what Callie was doing here. Callie's 'dyke comment' didn't help anything either.

But David sounded desperate and from the sound of it this other girl didn't have anywhere else to go either. I felt completely bombarded by his favor, but agreed to take her in anyway.

_Why did I have such difficulty saying 'No?' _

_It was one simple word. _

_One simple syllable._

_No. _

I convince myself that these girls are only going to be here for a couple of weeks.

Stef will understand…_hopefully._

The doorbell rings, and I already know it's them. "Jesus, will you get the door please?"

"Kay," he says as he walks out of the kitchen.

"Who could that be at this time?" Stef asks as she looks down at her watch and then in my direction. "Any more surprises?" she asks sarcastically and offers me a smile.

_You have no idea,_ I think to myself, but her face stiffens when she sees my worried one. "It's David, from CPS," I tell her.

"You didn't?" she looks at me with the sound of defeat in her voice. I hated myself for doing this to her because I knew that I was asking too much from her.

* * *

**Callie's POV**

_I wonder what the hell David is doing here? Did my dyke-comment bother them that much, that they would make him pick me up that quickly? A whole 4 hours… that was by far the shortest amount of time, I've ever spent in a foster home. Un-freaking-believable. _

_And where the hell is Bill? He knew how important my seeing Jude was. Why is David doing his work for him?_

I stop eating my lasagna and place my fork on my plate gently. I start to stand up, so that I could wash my dish, when David comes into the kitchen with another girl. She was around my age, maybe younger, my height, really thin, with black hair and green eyes. She was wearing a black bomber jacket with dark blue jeans. But my eyes were drawn to her fingers, which were all dressed with silver rings and she held onto a big north face backpack tightly, which I assumed contained her clothes.

She glances at all of us, but her eyes stop roaming when she sees Stef. My reasoning for this was because of the uniform. _Guess she doesn't like cops either._ I try not to laugh, and then she glances at me. I can see the fear start to form in her eyes.

"Hey David. This is my partner Stef," Lena says, as she places an arm on Stef's shoulder and then looks over to the girl standing next to him, "And this must be Christina?" she asks as she offers the girl a smile.

Christina looks at Lena now, with the same look she gave me, and then looks back to Stef without responding.

David takes her silence as his cue to answer for her, "…Yes it is. I'm so glad, that you two were willing to do this for me on such short notice."

"Not a problem," Lena answers hesitantly as she looks over to Stef for her assurance.

Stef glances at Lena and forces a smile. "Not a problem at all. It's like we never even discussed it," Stef replies and Lena's face straightens.

"Great," David smiles, "As I said, it will only be for a couple of weeks, until I find them both other placements. You have no idea how much I appreciate what you're doing for me. I really do."

"I'm sure you do," Stef replies as she tries to hide her frustration, but her voice ends up delivering it anyway.

Christina looks at all of us, then back at David, "Uh… David, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Is it important? I really have somewhere I have to be," he asks as he stares at his watch.

"It'll just be a sec," she says.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

_There was no way in hell I was going to stay in this house with a cop_.

I pull David into another room, "Where is it?" I say as I start to search his pockets.

"Where is what?" he asks with a confused look on his face and tries to pull away from me to keep me from searching his pants.

"Don't play stupid. Where are the drugs?"

"What?" he asks.

"The drugs. You know? Whatever it is you're smoking, that leads you to believe I would stay in this house. You have to have them on you, because Lord knows I could use them right about now. Are they hiding in your purse?" I ask as I try to grab his brief case, but he pulls it back too quickly.

"It's not that bad, Christina. Bill tells me they're really nice people."

"Bill says that about everyone and the majority of the time it's a lie. So nothing that Bill says has any cred with me."

"Christina," he warns.

"No! You've got to be high if you think I'm living in the same house as a cop. And did you see the girl's face? It looks like all of them took turns beating the crap out of her!"

I stop when I hear a boy's laugh coming from the kitchen.

"Who? Callie? She was just taken out of juvie today and brought here, just like you. That's why her face is like that. She got beat up in juvie," he tries to explain to me. But I'm not buying it for a second.

"Yeah, right? And what about the one with the curly hair? Why are her cheeks so bruised? Don't tell me that she just got outta juvie too?"

"Who Lena? Her face isn't bruised."

"It looked pretty banged up to me," I insist.

"Christina, that's probably her makeup," he laughs hysterically.

I can't help but think, _why someone would want their face to look like that_? But that's beside the point. "It doesn't matter. I don't want to be here. Take me somewhere else, please." I hate begging but I'm desperate now.

"Well, you don't really have a choice, Christina. You got kicked out of your other foster home, and this was the best alternative that I could come up with on such short notice. It's only for a couple of weeks."

"Just a couple of weeks?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Fine, but I want that in writing," I tell him in a no non-sense tone.

He laughs and walks back toward the kitchen, completely oblivious to the fact that I wasn't joking.

* * *

**Stef's POV**

Everyone rushed back to their seats, when they realized Christina and David's conversation was over. Considering the circumstances, eavesdropping was a must.

_I can't believe that girl would think that I beat on Callie and on Lena. _

_Did she really think cops were that bad?_

I look over at Lena and can't help but smirk. I always told her to ease up on the bronzer, but she never listened.

Lena starts quickly rubbing her cheeks with a napkin in order to take some of her makeup off. She immediately stops at the sound of the door opening and Christina and David walking back in.

I'm trying hard not to judge, but now that I know both of these girls are fresh out of juvie and in my kitchen, I can't help but worry. And I know I have Lena to thank for that.

I'm definitely going to have a talk with her, because I don't appreciate her making these insane decisions without talking to me about it first.

After dinner, I try to lay down the rules of the house to the two girls. Even if this is for a couple of weeks, I'm not going to allow chaos in my home. "The curfew on school nights is at 7. You must ask my permission from Lena or myself, before leaving the house. An—"

Christina interrupts me, "7 am?"

"No pm," I clarify. She looks at me strangely, as if I had just spoken to her in Japanese. "Is that a problem?"

"That only gives us like what? 4 hours to hang out?"

"Uh…Yes," I answer sternly. And now she's staring at me with that look again. I keep going, trying not to let myself get distracted, "Also you will go to school while you're staying here. Lena is the vice principal of Anchor Beach Charter School. All the kids go there so you'll be—"

Callie interrupts me next, "Where do I sleep?" she asks as she looks around the room.

"Excuse me?" I ask. _It was like she didn't even care to listen to my rules at all, which just makes me feel like this isn't such a good idea even more_.

Christina gives Callie a weird look, "I'm starting to understand why your face is all banged up."

Callie gives her a dirty look and looks back to me, "It's not my first time in a foster home… Where do I sleep?" she asks again.

Lena must've sensed that I was getting annoyed now and budded in, "Let me show you."

Christina watches them both leave to the living room and looks in my direction. I stare at her with confusion, which seems to freak her out because she gets up fairly quickly and disappears out of the kitchen.

I already knew that I had my hands full with these two...


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so some of you had concerns about what I'm doing with this story. I am editing it a little, adding some scenes, and then completing it. So yes, I would recommend reading it from the beginning, because it's not the exact same. And that is why I cannot post all of those chapters immediately. So just an fyi.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

**Callie's POV**

Before going to bed, I borrowed Brandon's cell phone to call Jude. Luckily I got a hold of him, and now I know that he's all right. I know that I have to get to him as soon as I can, but the question is how?

Christina walks into the living room and sees me, just as I hang up the phone, "Talking to your boyfriend?" she asks.

"No," I stare at her angrily.

"Whose phone did you steal?" she asks and gives me an inquisitive look.

I just stare at her blankly, without responding.

"Alllrighhtt. Well, wanna put it back before you get us both in trouble? Thanks, I'd greatly appreciate it," she says as she lies back down on the couch, pulling a blanket over her body.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

_I can't believe this Callie chick is trying to cause all this trouble for me already. Normally, I would've been all for it. I would be dying to get kicked out of here, but after getting thrown into juvie, let's just say 'my options are limited.'_

I lie down and wonder if I should give my mom a call. Just to see if she's still with that douchebag boyfriend of hers. The one, who's to blame for everything that's gone wrong in my life.

If I call her and she's still with him, I know she'll hang up on me. That's one of the things I hated most about her, her desperate need to be with a man. That disgusting trait is what drew us apart in the first place, and I know it will only get worse with time. But that doesn't change the fact that I still love her, even though she's given me plenty of reason not too.

I try not to cry as I lay down on the couch, but I can still feel the tears burning in my eyes. _I won't call her._ It will only make me feel worse, and that's the last thing I need right now.

* * *

**Lena's POV**

Stef has been giving me the silent treatment, ever since she found out what I'd done. I know she's mad and that she has a right to be, but I hate it when we fight.

I watch her as she grabs the clothes out of the dryer and places them in the basket. Then, she walks over, tossing them onto the bed, all while still avoiding my gaze. "Thank you," I say in an effort to break the silence.

She sucks a long breath in. I know I have to apologize to make this right, "Okay, so I've been thinking… and I know how mad I would've been, if you'd made such a huge decision without consulting me… I'm sorry."

She smiles at me, and I know that she was waiting for that. "It's fine. I'm okay… But, did you have to bring home two of them?" she asks jokingly.

I smile back, "I know. I know. It's just, when David called and told me about Christina, I said okay without really thinking about it. And… I'm sorry. The word just came out, and it was like I had no control over my own mouth."

"Your little friends seem to have that problem too," she says in a more serious tone.

"I've noticed."

"And how do you suppose we handle that?"

"I don't know," I answer in defeat. "Maybe they're a little on edge since…"

"Yep, jail time will do that to ya," Stef jokes.

"I said I'm sorry," I plead again. "And besides they're not violent in any way, Stef."

"They better not be… especially after seeing what I can do," Stef laughs and I can't help but laugh too.

"I still can't believe Christina thought you beat me."

"We should've let her think that," Stef responds. "And maybe now, you'll finally listen to me and ease up on the bronzer."

"It's called contouring, Honey."

"But it looks like a beating," Stef reiterates.

* * *

_The next day during school_

**Callie's POV**

I'm finally walking away from the school to go get Jude, when Christina comes up from behind me. "What are you doing?" I ask her flatly.

"That's funny. I was just about to ask you the same question," she retorts.

"I have some stuff I have to take care of."

"You do know that you're only making things harder on yourself, right? And me."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"If you leave, they're going to send me back because of it. And who knows where I'll end up?"

"Not my problem." _All I can think about right now is finding Jude. I can't waste my time worrying about anybody else._

Before I realize it Brandon is walking alongside us. _Great! Just great! A few more people and I'll look like I'm walking with a bunch of protestors._ "Where are you two headed?"

"Apparently, to take care of some shit," Christina says casually.

I stop and turn around to look at them, "No, I'm going to take care of something, and you two are staying here."

"She wants you to stay here, dude," Christina continues as she gives Brandon a face.

"You do know that my mom's a cop right?" he says as he looks at both of us.

"Really? Gee…I just thought she was dressed in a cop uniform, because she just left her job at the strip club," Christina responds sarcastically.

I keep walking, hoping that they would distract each other for a long enough time, so that I can escape their sight.

"HEY, WAIT UP!" Brandon yelled and both of them were running toward me. He stopped when his cell phone starts to ring, "Someone's been calling me from this number all day."

That's when I realize that it might be Jude, so I quickly turn around and snatch the phone from his hand. "Hey baby it's me what's going on?"

"Our foster dad found out you called last night," Jude responds.

"What do you mean?"

"He found out you called me from the caller ID, and he got really mad, Callie. He got mad at me," Jude answers and I can tell that his voice is weak, which just scares me even more.

"Jude, what are you saying?" I start to fear the worst. If Jude tells me he hit him again, I know I'm going to lose it.

I hear muffled sounds over from the other line and then I hear Greg's voice, "Who's this? Callie? You ungrateful bitch! You have the nerve to call my phone after what you did?"

"Let me talk to Jude."

"Not on my watch, sweetie."

"Put him back on the phone." Before I could finish talking, he hangs up on me.

"What's going on? Who was that? Why are they calling me number?" Brandon asks nervously.

"She stole your phone last night, Bro. You gotta keep up," Christina answers as if she was annoyed with him.

"What?"

"Chillax. She returned it, didn't she? So, more like temporarily borrowed without your permission?"

"I gotta go," I say as I thrush the phone into his chest and walk away.

They keep following me though. "Who was that? How do they have my number?" he asks again.

"It was my brother. I have to get him out of my foster dad's house."

"Hold on. Let me call my mom. She's a cop."

"I said no cops!" I yell.

"Yeah, I gotta agree with her on that one. That's a pretty dumb idea," Christina mutters.

* * *

**Brandon's POV**

We're all sitting in silence inside of a bus and I can't help but wonder, _What the hell am I doing _here_? I'm supposed to at the music competition, and instead I'm following these two girls, who I don't even know… My parents are going to KILL me._

"So…." Christina tries to break the silence. "What's the plan?"

"What?" Callie asks in confusion.

"Well, we need to have a plan. We can't just go in your foster dad's house and steal your brother."

"Why not?" Callie asks.

"Because I don't think it's a good idea to add 'Kidnapping in the first degree' to our rap sheets.

"I didn't ask you two to come," Callie argues.

"Well, what else is there to do? …Homework?" she laughs. "I'll take criminal activity over that any day."

I look at them both as if they were crazy, but I've go to be just as whacked out if I followed them. And whether I like it or not, Christina's right. A plan sounds better than no plan. "Maybe I could knock on his door and ask for directions."

"Because you know, that's believable…" Christina adds.

"Well, what's your plan then?" I ask.

"Hm…Maybe I can knock on the door and lure him out somehow."

"How?" Callie asks.

"I think I can figure something out," Christina answers with a smile, and I know that whatever she's conjured up isn't anything good…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

**Christina's POV**

We finally reach Callie's foster-dad's house, and I already know what I have to do. _Or at least I think I do? …Whatever I'll make it up as I go along. These two won't notice._

For some reason, I can't help but feel excited about this, which is kind of dumb. I know. But the rush that I'm about to feel is totally going to be worth it.

"Are you sure that he's the only one home?" I ask Callie just to be safe. _Well, really there's nothing safe about this, but I need to know whether I have to lure more than one man out of this house._

"I think so. His son might be there too, but Bobby always locks himself in his room. So, I doubt he'll be a problem."

"Okay, good."

"What's your plan?" Brandon asks nervously, and I can tell he has never done anything this risky in his entire life. I try my best to hide the laugh that wants to escape my mouth so badly.

"Ya know… if you're really that scared, you don't have to be here. I'm sure your mommies are worried sick about you," I say just to see if he takes the bait.

"I'm not scared," he retorts and I can tell that I'm pissing him off. "I just don't want to go to jail tonight."

I pull out my berry colored lip-gloss and start putting it on my lips. "You won't if you do as I say… All right, I'll knock on the door and get this dude out of the house. And as soon as you see us walk away or hear a car turn on, either one, you run inside, grab the kid, and duck out of there like your pants are on fire, okay? Get it, got it, good."

I stare at them and wait for either one to respond, but they are just looking at me as if I was a cartoon-character that just came out of the Looney-tunes logo. I sigh in frustration and explain it much slower, "When-you-see-me-leave-you-go-in-grab-kid-and-run. Okay? And I'll meet you two by that park we passed on the way here."

"Okay," Callie finally says, "…but how are you going to get Greg out of the house?"

"Let me take care of that." I take off my black jacket and hand it over to her. "Here, watch this for me, will you?" They both give me strange looks as I continue to unbutton my red plaid shirt. Brandon places his hand on his forehead but doesn't say anything. And I tie my shirt on the lower end, so that it shows off my belly.

"Uh…I don't think that's going to work," Callie says with her eyebrows raised. It's obvious that she's questioning my plan, which I'm finding a little insulting.

"Of course it will. He's a man. They're all the same," I say. Brandon gives me a dirty look. _Whoops! I forgot he was there for a second_, "Oh, sorry," I say, but we all know that I don't really mean it.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he says, as he and Callie walk over to the side of the house.

I make my way over to the door and knock lightly, hoping that this Greg guy would hear it. I glance at the window and get a look of my reflection. I puff up my hair and unbutton the top of my shirt to show off my chest. _If I'm going to do this, I have to do it right_.

I knock again harder and quickly grab a lollipop from my jean's pocket. I peel back the wrapper and throw the lollipop in my mouth. _Think slutty,_ I remind myself.

"Who is it?" I hear an angry man's voice ask.

_Damn, what a grouch. I hope Callie isn't right about this._

* * *

**Callie's POV**

_This girl is officially a psycho, but she's a psycho that's trying to help me, so I'll take what I can get._ We listen to them from the side of the house, and I'm surprised when I hear a seductive voice come out of her. Brandon and I have to hold our mouths to keep from laughing.

"Hello, sir. I'm so sorry to bother you so late, but I seem to be having a bit of car trouble. My car won't start, and I think my battery's dead. Normally, I would call for help, but I seemed to have left my phone in the car, which doesn't help me, none. Would you mind giving me a hand? I hate to ask but I've been knocking on doors for almost an hour, and no one seems to want to help me. I'm sooo exhausted."

_There's no way in hell that's going to work. I should have had Brandon just ask for directions. _

"Sure, sweetie. Where's your car?" Greg asks.

_Hold up. Is this seriously working?_

"Oh, it's only a few blocks down. Not very far at all. You have no idea how grateful I am."

"Not a problem. If it's just the battery, all I have to do is jump-start it. But I'll need my car to do that."

"Thank you so much. I'm sooo glad you're willing to help me," she responds.

"Jude! If Bobby comes out, tell him I'll be right back. I'm going to go help this nice young lady fix her car so that she can get home."

_I can't believe she has this ass-whole acting so nice all of a sudden._ It kind of makes me want to throw up. But I see them walking toward his car, and she gives me the thumbs up behind her back. As soon as they drive away, Brandon and I run towards the back.

Words cannot describe how happy I am, when I see Jude in the kitchen. I open the screen door, and Jude's eyes are gleaming the moment he sees me._ God, I love this kid._

"Callie! What are you doing here?" he smiles as I hug him tightly. His tone changes from happy to fearful, "You can't be here! He's going to get really mad again."

"You can't be here either, Jude. Go get your bag. Hurry, we're getting out of here."

He smiles back at me, "Wait. Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet, Bud. But hurry, let's go."

Jude runs into his bedroom and starts to pack up.

"Where are you going?" Brandon asks in confusion.

"It doesn't matter. I'll figure something out. All I know is, that I have to get Jude the hell out of here. This house is far from safe."

Jude comes back out of his room with his blue duffel bag slung around his shoulder. I'm glad that I taught him to never fully unpack, because no home is ever permanent.

"I'm ready," Jude says with a smile and I can't help but smile back. "That's good, bud."

At that exact moment, Bobby walks out of his bedroom and the smile leaves from all of our faces. I couldn't help but feel the fear build up inside of my bones.

"What the hell are you doing back here?" Bobby says harshly.

"I just came to get Jude," I answer, praying that he'd leave it at that.

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE! I WANT YOU AND YOUR FRIEND OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"We're all leaving now," Brandon answers.

"JUDE, GET OVER HERE!" Bobby yells. Then, he quickly grabs Jude by the arm and pulls him over to his side.

"GET OFF HIM!" I say as I try to grab Jude from him.

Brandon tries to intervene, "LET HIM GO!"

"Fine, I'll let him go," Bobby answers as pushes Jude and I away so hard, that we fall to the ground. He quickly runs over to the coffee table to open a drawer, and pulls out his dad's gun.

"Okayokayokayokay," Brandon says as he tries to calm Bobby down.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE, BEFORE I SHOOT ALL THREE OF YOU!" he yells, which quickly causes Jude and I to get up from the floor, but I make sure to stand in front of my brother.

"Okay, we'll leave," I say, knowing that I've made a huge mistake in coming here. Brandon and I start backing up slowly toward the front door, until I see a gun come in between us from the corner of my eye.

"POLICE! FREEZE! FREEZE! GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES NOW! GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES NNOOWW!" Stef yells.

I see another police officer come in from the back door with his gun pulled out too, and it was focused on Bobby. "PUT THE GUN DOWN! PUT THE GUN DOWN!"

Bobby's face flashes with fear as he drops the gun onto the floor and puts his hands up in the air in submission, "They were trespassing!"

Jude runs over to me, and I'm so happy that I have him in my arms right now. He'll be safe and that was all that mattered to me.

* * *

**Stef's POV**

I expected to come into this house and hate Callie and Christina for putting my son into such a dangerous situation. I was ready to tell Lena to call Bill and let him know that this wasn't working out. But when I finally understood the reason why they were here in the first place, I couldn't help but feel for Callie and Jude.

After I knew that Mike had complete control over the situation, I looked around and noticed that there was no sign Christina, "Uh…where's Christina?"

Brandon and Callie look at each other nervously, as if they suddenly remembered something. The expressions on their faces make me feel nervous even more.

"We're not sure," Brandon confesses.

"WHAT? Didn't she come here with you? Talya said that you all left together."

"Yes, but she left with their foster dad," Brandon explains.

"Whose foster dad? Why?" I ask in a loud tone and I know that my voice sounds angry, but I'm more fearful than mad.

"Callie's and her brother's. And because that was her plan," Brandon finishes.

"So, this was her idea?" I ask him. _I'm not sure whom exactly I should take my anger out on at this point._

"No, it was mine," Callie confesses.

I shake my head. _This is too surreal to be really happening to me right now_. "Where did they go?"

"A few blocks down the road…but she might be at the park by now," Brandon says.

I sigh with frustration and try to keep calm, "Just get in the car. Mama's in there waiting."

Brandon walks out, but Callie and her brother stay put and just stare at me as if they didn't know what to do. "Uh…you guys too."

They walk outside immediately and I can't help but smile at the sight.

_But it still wasn't over…What the hell has Lena gotten me into?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

**Brandon's POV**

As soon as we started driving to the park, my mom's phone began to ring.

"What's up Mike?" Mom says as she puts the phone on speaker so that Lena could listen in.

"Well…the dad just showed up and went ballistic. He was demanding to know what his son was being arrested for and started flipping out. Now, I have no choice but to take them both in."

Mom sighs, "Okay, that's fine. Do you need me?"

"No, my back up just arrived. But the dad keeps rambling on about some girl who tricked him. I'm guessing it was Christina?"

"Did he say what happened? Where she went?"

"He says she lured him out of his house and told him that her car battery died. And when he went to go help her, she realized she locked her keys in the car. When he tried to pry open the door, she grabbed his car keys from the ignition and took off running."

"What the hell?" she asked. Callie and I couldn't help but crack up in the backseat.

_That girl IS crazy! _

"He said that he had to walk six blocks just to get back here."

I could see my mom shaking her head in the front seat and looking at Lena, who also had this look of disbelief on her face. "All right. Thanks Mike," my mom replied and hung up the phone. "You two are not going to make this easy on me are you?"

"I'm sorry," I repeat. "…Wait, this is the park we said we'd meet her at," I say and my mom stops the car immediately. We all try to scan the park with our eyes but the darkness barely lets us see anything.

"Where is she?" Lena asks as if she didn't believe us.

"I can go look for her," I answer.

My mom nods, "Go."

I walk over toward the playground and yell for her.

"What the hell are you so loud for?" I hear her say and I finally see that she's lying on a long slide. "And what the hell took you so long? I've been waiting here for ages! …Running from a grown man, yeah, not as easy as it looks. Hey, where's Callie? And her brother?"

"They're in the car," I answer. "Come on, let's go.

"Whoah, seriously? Whose car did you steal?" she asks me with a smile on her face.

"What? No ones. They're in my mom's car."

Christina crosses her arms over her chest, "Are you for real? Did you seriously call your moms on us?"

"No," I answer as I glare at her. "My moms tracked my phone and found us there."

"Oh. My. God. What does that mean?"

"It means get in the car."

"I'm not getting in the car!" She yells back, and I can already tell she's getting ready to pounce.

I see my mom standing in back of her and I know the chances of her getting away are slim to none. "Oh, yes, you are," my mom says which causes Christina's face to flash with fear before she turns around.

"Uh… I was just…"

"About to get in the car before you get into more trouble?" my mom finishes.

"Yup," Christina answers as she begins to walk toward the car.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

_I cannot believe that this freakin' kid is on that much of a tight leash, that he can't even think for himself. And his moms practically have a GPS tracking device sticking out of his ass to make matters worse. What the hell is that? You would think that he would've mentioned it, before following us to commit a crime. But of course, he's an idiot. This is the last time I hang out with a cop's kid, that's for sure. _

_They're completely clueless._

The second I open the car door, Stef stops me from going in, "Can I talk to you and Callie for a second?"

"What, now?" I ask her.

_First she tells me to get in the car, and now she tells me to stay out of it. This woman really needs to make up her mind already…_

Callie gets out of the car too and stands next to me, while Brandon gets in without a problem. _Of course he wouldn't get in trouble…_

The look on Stef's face shows that she is trying hard not to lose her patience, but the look on mine's shows that I don't care whether she flips out or not.

We both face Stef and she starts talking after a few seconds of calming down, "…I would really like you to understand how this, tonight, could have ended very badly..."

_Uh, ya think? _I want to answer but practically seal my lips together. _I knew that our plan was risky, which is exactly why I did it. There was something about putting myself in dangerous situations that always attracted me. I don't know why. It's a sickness. But I knew that I couldn't give that explanation to her, so I just nod and pretend to understand where she's coming from._

Callie finally speaks up, "Look if you wanna send us back to juvie… than you just promise me that Jude will be somewhere safe."

_Bitch, speak for yourself! _I want to say, but I refrain from doing so. _I know that she only cares about her brother, but did she have to throw me under the bus too. I wouldn't mind going to another foster-home, but back to juvie? Is she serious? All I did was try to help her out, and she recommends to a cop that we both get thrown back in there. For what? Planning to steal her brother? And it's only been like what, 5 seconds since we did the crime? _

Stef's voice softens after listening to her, "You're not disposable, Callie. You're not worthless." She tries to offer Callie a smile, but Callie doesn't budge at all.

I just stare at them, wondering if I should keep my mouth shut. But there's something about awkward silences that I absolutely hate, "Sooo…What does this mean then?"

"Come on you two. Let's go," she says as she ushers us both into the car.

I'm surprised when I see Callie's brother and offer him a smile, "Hey, you made it out, kid."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

**Stef's POV**

I'm trying really hard to understand where Lena is coming from, but she's the one who invited those girls into our home. And now, after yesterday's fiasco, she's acting like they're the ones who pointed the gun at Brandon and me.

I'm reiterating her words in my mind, "I get this awful feeling in my stomach, and I cannot help but connect that back to those girls." _Didn't she know the trouble she was opening our family up to when she brought those kids to our home from juvie? I was silently waiting for something like what happened last night to jolt her back into reality, but now that it happened and now that I got a glimpse at why they Callie and Christina did what they did, she wanted to bail on them?_

_Or maybe that's what she thinks she wanted? Maybe all of this just scared her?  
_

On the other hand, I have to deal with this kind of crap all the time at work, so I'm not as panicked when it comes down to these types of situations than Lena is. _Yes, I am mad that Brandon had to be there, but I knew that it was Brandon's own fault that he was there, and I couldn't blame Callie or Christina for it. _

The point was that they were all safe and nobody got hurt.

_Lena would get over this_ I think, as I watch her leave the kitchen to go answer the door for Bill.

When she comes back in with him trailing right behind her, Bill takes a seat right next to me, "Good morning, Stef."

"Morning, Bill," I start. " So, you wanna fill us in on what we're up against?" I ask jokingly, but we all know there's some seriousness to the question. _A lot of seriousness actually._

"Stef," Lena tries to scold as she turns toward Bill, "…Would you like some coffee before we start?"

I don't know if Lena even realizes it, but she starts to pour him a cup without listening to his answer.

"Yes, please," he says, and I can tell by the bags under his eyes that he's exhausted, but I don't mention it. "Alright… so I've brought over all of the kid's files, just so you guys can get a glimpse at what you're dealing with here."

"That would be very helpful. Thank you, Bill," Lena says.

Bill takes out 3 manila folders and places them on the kitchen table. "Okay… Where do you wanna start first? Or with whom, I should ask."

Lena and I looked at each other. "The siblings, I guess," Lena answers with certainty as she nods to me.

I had to ask the question that was eating up at me, and I didn't care if it came off as rude, "Why was Callie in juvie? All we know is that she damaged some of her foster dad's property, but what property and why?" Surprisingly, Lena didn't try to scold me, which led me to believe she was just as concerned about this as I was.

Bill started rummaging through one of the folders, which was the thickest of all three, "Yes, that. Callie took a baseball bat and destroyed her foster-dad's car, and from what she told police; her foster father was physically abusing Jude. And when she tried to stop him, he started hitting her. That's when she lost control and destroyed his car. I wasn't there, obviously… so I can't tell you if that's what happened for sure. But the police didn't think she was very credible, so they arrested her on the spot, and so on and so forth."

Lena gasped, "Oh my god. So why were they placed in the system to begin with? Where are their parents?"

"Their father was sentenced to 15 years in jail, when Callie was seven. And then a few years later, when Callie was 10 I think….yeah, that's right, her mother died suddenly. Her father obviously wasn't in the picture and there were no other family members to call on, so they were put into the system. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to land anywhere for more than six months at a time. And we keep trying to put them somewhere permanent…but then something happens and we have to move them onto somewhere new."

"Something happens?" I ask. Now, I'm definitely concerned, "What exactly does that mean?"

Lena reads my mind, "Something like last night?"

"I feel terrible about that. That is my fault. I had an emergency on another case. Otherwise, I would've been there for Callie and connected her with Jude, and none of that would have happened. They're really great kids. They just have bad luck."

I take a deep breath and glance toward the window, where I see Jude playing in our tree. He seemed so innocent in all of this and I know that he deserves a safe home. What child doesn't? But the fact that he probably hadn't been in one, since his mother passed, just made me feel for him even more. "…And what about Christina?" I ask, as I try to keep myself on track. I couldn't let myself get too emotional over this.

"Right. Christina Infante. She's 14 now, but she was put into the system when she was 11, because, well… her mother never reported her missing. We found out that she had been living away from her home for over a year with 3 other kids in an empty burned house that had never been repaired. Now, because all 3 were minors, all 3 were placed into foster care.

"And where is her father?" Lena asked.

"He was never in the picture… And she's lived in two other foster homes, both of which didn't work out—"

"What do you mean, they didn't work out?" I asked.

Bill flipped through a few more pages, "The first one didn't work out because of some basic rule breaking, and she spray-painted her last foster family's house, which—"

"Is how she landed in juvie," I finished for him.

"Yes."

"Why would she do that?" Lena asked horrified.

"It was no secret to me that she didn't want to be there. And I should have gotten her out of there sooner, but I didn't so—"

"She took matters into her own hands. Kind of like Callie," I finished for him.

"Yes," he said as he took another sip of his coffee.

I sigh as I look toward Lena for her input, "What do you wanna do?"

* * *

**Christina's POV**

"Hey, can I borrow your phone real quick?" I ask the first random girl that I see at lunch. The dumb biatch just gives me a dirty look and walks away. "Thanks. Thanks so much for the hospitality! I'm so grateful!" I yell at her. Even though I honestly wanted to punch her in the face. "Bitch," I mumble.

"Kelsey is quite the bitch," I hear a guy's voice say from behind me. I turn around and see some dude with short black hair and blue eyes, "She's probably waiting for her DRUG DEALER to call her back!" he yelled after her and turned his attention back toward me, "So, it sounds like you need to borrow a phone, newbie? Wanna call your boyfriend?"

"Wanna get outta my face?" I retort. I wasn't in the mood to play 20 questions. _I just want to make one freaking phone call._

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. No need to act all crazy toward me. Who else is crazy enough to lend a kid fresh outta juvie their phone?"

I spin around as soon as I hear his last words, "What? Who told you that?"

"Word gets around. Why? Don't want anyone finding out you and your friend committed robbery?" he responds as he gives me a cheesy smile.

"I what? Who the hell said that?" I ask and now I'm annoyed. One of the things that I hate most in this world is when people spread lies about me. More importantly people I don't even know.

"Someone. Or maybe you don't want people finding out that you're dealing?"

"Get the hell outta my face, dude," I finish as I start to walk away. But he just rushes up and starts walking beside to me.

"Then what is it? What'd you get locked up for?"

"I'd rather go ask that Kelsey bitch to borrow her phone again—"

"Here," he says as he hands his cell-phone over to me.

I glance at him again, and slowly reach for the phone, incase he tries to snatch it back, but he doesn't. "Thanks," I reply, but I'm not sure I really mean it. "I'll just be right over there," I say as I point to an empty bench on the beach.

"Yep," he replies.

_What the hell is wrong with him?_ I wonder, but my phone call is too important. I quickly dial my best friend's number, but get the voicemail. _Why couldn't she just pick up the freakin' phone?_ "Shanelle, it's me Christina. Where the hell are you at? I wanna come see you, but I don't know exactly where to go. I don't even know why I'm leaving you a voicemail, if you can't even reach me back on this number but whatever. Anyway, I'm going to go meet you at our spot around this time tomorrow. You better be there!" I practically yell into the phone, but I soften my tone, "See you tomorrow, girl." After I'm done leaving a voicemail, I hang up and walk back over to the guy. "Thanks…" I say, suddenly feeling like a complete bitch, who didn't even bother to ask for his name.

He reads my mind, "Jasper. And you are…" he smiles, letting me know that I wasn't the only one who didn't bother to ask.

"Christina."

"So, Christina. You're not a drug dealer, so…"

"How could you be so sure?" I ask as an attempt to add some mystery to whatever it is he thinks he knows about me.

"Because I've never heard of a drug dealer who couldn't afford a cell phone?" he smiles.

"Well, maybe I have a cell-phone, but don't want to risk using it for this huge deal that's going down. I'm that good," I smile at him. "I have other people doing the dirty work for me as we speak," I say as I start to walk away from him. "Thanks for the phone, Jasper," I wave goodbye without even turning around.

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

_I can't believe that Christina chick was talking to Jasper. Doesn't she know what a terrible guy he is? Everyone knows that he pulled a gun on some kid from Fallbrook High school and got expelled. That's how he ended up here. What the hell is she doing?_

_Ugh. Why do I even care? I just hope he didn't tell her that I sold him drugs, because that's the last thing I need right now. She'll probably just go blabbing to my moms about it._

I'll deny it anyway. They won't believe her over me. _Or will they?_

Kelsey takes me out of my thoughts, when she abruptly takes a seat next to me at lunch, "What the hell is your new criminal foster-sister doing, talking to Jasper-the-psycho? Like for real, it's like those kids have some badass-radar, that pinpoints them to other badass kids," she smiles at me. "…What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired," I say.

"Well, I'm sure you ought to be. You're probably up all night, trying to make sure the two juvenile delinquents in your house don't try to set the place on fire," she laughs.

I laugh too, even though I don't think it's all that funny. But Kelsey's my friend and I won't ruin our friendship by defending some random girls just because they're staying at my house for now.

"Hey, you think you can hook me up with some more of those pills. I'm running out."

"What? I just gave you like ten of them two days ago?"

"I know. But my sister found them, and she made me share. I'm still going to pay you," she assures me.

"I don't need the money any more," I answer flatly. _And it's true. I can't believe I risked going to jail, so that I could help my mother. I shouldn't even call her that anymore. She took the money and practically ran away from me, so that she could meet her dealer. Jesus was right. How could I be so stupid? _"Sorry, my brother found out I was taking them from him, so that business has sadly drowned," I respond.

"No biggie. I just gotta find some other kid with ADHD. That shouldn't be too hard, right?" she asks sarcastically and walks away.

It was moments like these that made me question our friendship.

_It's after school and Mariana, Callie, Christina, and Jude are walking home._

* * *

**Callie's POV**

"So, Christina," Mariana starts. "I saw you talking to Jasper earlier."

"Oh really?" Christina asks, and it's obvious she's not really interested in having this conversation. "Yeah, we talked."

"Well, I wouldn't trust him if I were you?"

Christina gives her a strange look, "Why? Because I should trust people like you?" Christina spat back at her.

"What is your problem?" Mariana asked, and it was apparent that she had no clue what Christina was getting at, but I knew. I just never let things like that bother me. Christina seems more 'vocal' let's just say.

"My problem is that I just started a new school, and I have people like you spreading rumors that Callie and I are drug dealers and burglars."

I wanted to laugh at that comment so hard, but refrained from doing so. Last night, I saw Mariana stealing Jesus's pills, and now she was calling us drug dealers? The irony was too much.

"I never said that! I just told Kelsey that you were in juvie. I didn't expect her to—"

"To what? Spread lies about us around the whole school? Well she did! I wouldn't give people advice on who they should trust, if I were you."

"Jasper's a bad guy!"

"Why? Because he's the only one, who actually bothered to confront me about any of this? Yeah, he's such a bad guy."

"You know what? Forget it!" Mariana yells back, as she continued to walk farther ahead of us.

I look at Christina and can't help but smile, even though she was pissed off, "Burglars and drug-dealers?" I ask.

We both start bursting out with laughter at how silly these rumors were. Mariana turned around to give us a dirty look, which only makes us laugh harder.

"I heard we stole a cop car and drove it into the San Diego River," I say which just makes us laugh more and I knew our laughter was pissing Mariana off.

Jude was laughing too, "And you too are happy about this… because?"

"I don't know," we both say at the same time in between laughs. We stop laughing, once we reach Mariana, who's stopped in front of her house and just looking at it. All three of us exchange glances and look at Mariana in confusion.

"What?" I finally ask.

"Why are both my moms home?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

**Christina's POV**

"Why are both my moms home?" Mariana asked barely above a whisper, after realizing that both of her mother's cars were in the driveway. She turned around to face us.

_Bitch! How are we supposed to know?_ I want to ask her, but I rephrase myself, "Uh… How are we supposed to know? They're your moms…" I answer. _Still rude, but rated PG for the kid._

"No," she shakes her head as if I didn't know what I was talking about. "You don't get it. This isn't good. They're never here at this time. Something's definitely up," she says as she walks slowly toward the door.

"Yeah, her paranoia level," I whisper to Callie, but she doesn't laugh with me. And from the look on her face, I can tell that she's just as afraid as Mariana.

As soon we enter the house, I can see the anger practically permeating off of Lena and Stef's bodies. Lena has her hands on her hips, and Stef looks like she's having a hard time breathing from her nose. The two women are glaring at all of us, and I'm trying to figure out what Mariana and Callie did to tick them off.

"What's going on?" Mariana asks with apparent hesitance in her voice.

_This girl's a horrible actress, _I think to myself.

Stef speaks first, "Mariana, can you take Callie and Jude upstairs please. We need to talk to Christina."

_Hmmm, this should be interesting._

Mariana, Jude, and Callie all look in my direction, but I don't budge.

Stef senses Mariana's reluctance to leave us alone, "Go ahead, sweets. She'll be right up."

I watch as all three of them make their way up the stairs.

* * *

"Christina," Stef says as she points me toward one of the chairs, obviously wanting me to take a seat. I sit down just as I'm expected to, and they take a seat next to each other to the right of me. Stef folds her hands together and places them on top of the table, "We've been told that you, uh…stole Jesus's pills and have been selling them at school… Is this true?" Both women keep their eyes focused on me, as if they already know the answer to their own question and are waiting for me to come clean or something…

I just look at them and I'm not sure how to react. Part of me wants to burst out laughing at the insanity and the ridiculousness of the question. And the other part of me is still trying to process what she just asked me.

I look at both women, as if I wasn't sure if I was spoken to or not. There is a long silence, before I can finally say something, "Are you being serious with me right now?"

I wait for either of them to respond, hoping that they'd say they were just joking, but I knew the chances of that happening were slim to none.

Lena buds in, "A student, whose name I can't reveal, has come forward and informed me that you have sold her drugs at the school. Jesus's pills."

"…Is this true?" Stef asks.

I'm finally able to process, what they're saying, "Wow! That bad?" I ask.

"Excuse me?" Stef asks and they both just stare at me with judgmental looks on their faces.

"That bad? …You want me out of here that bad that you'd make up some crap like this to get me thrown back in juvie? Wowww… Okay. That's cool. So, when's Bill coming?"

"What?" Lena asks as if I had just slapped her in the face. Which just confuses me because they were the one's accusing me of something.

I suddenly remember, "Or David? Yeah, David. Bill's probably too busy. He's always pretty busy."

"We haven't talked to him yet," Stef answers "Bu—".

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I retort. "For him to call you? Yeah, fat chance! Better call him before 5. You're not gonna be able to reach him after that. Then, you're going to have to wait till morning and that could really but a damper on—"

"Christina, hold on," Lena says as she puts her hand in the air to keep me from talking as if I were a five year old or something.

"Did you do it?" Stef interrupts.

"Do what? Sell drugs to some random person you both concocted in your own minds. Noooo… I don't have the power to do that just yet. You see, I was too busy learning how to teleport from here to Timbuktu all day. Damnnnn. My fault. I was going to get a head start on what you're talking about tomorrow. You know, I thought I needed some practice first... But thanks so much for asking," I say and I start to stand up and walk toward the backyard, "Do let me know when David shows up. I wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

* * *

**Lena's POV**

Stef and I just stare at each other, trying to mentally assess what just happened, because we are even more confused than we were when I first heard Kelsey's explanation about the drugs.

"What just happened?" I finally ask her.

Stef puts her hand on her forehead, "I don't even know, love."

"Well, what do we do? We've known Kelsey since she was 10. We've only known Christina for—"

"A couple days." Stef finishes for me. "But she thinks we made it up."

"But we didn't," I remind her. "And she did just come out of juvie…"

"And then there's that…Are you sure she didn't say it was Callie?" Stef asks me.

"Positive. Black long hair, green eyes, Mariana's foster-sister. Callie only fits one of those descriptions."

"So, do we call Bill?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice," I answer skeptically. I can't help but feel guilty over everything wrong that had happened, since I agreed to bring those girls into my home.

* * *

**Callie's POV**

Mariana stayed downstairs eavesdropping, while Jude and I went into her room. _Why they would send Jude and I upstairs is beyond me. _All of our stuff is in the living room, but they apparently didn't want us to hear their conversation. A few minutes pass, before I hear Jude actually say something.

He's standing over by the window and is gazing out of it, "Hey Callie?"

His voice takes me out of my daze, "Yeah, bud?"

"Why is Christina leaving? Did they threaten to send her away? Or did they tell her to get out?"

"We don't know that she's leaving, kid. So, let's not jump to any conclusions, okay?"

"Yeah we do. She's climbing the fence in our backyard right now. See?" he points toward the window.

I stand up quickly; suddenly realizing Jude is being serious. By the time I get to the window, I see Christina on the other side of the fence, running from the house.

"Is she coming back?" Jude asks calmly.

I try to remain calm as well. The last thing I want to do is freak him out, "I don't think so, bud."

"Should we tell Stef and Lena?"

"Probably not. But if anybody asks, you didn't see anything. Okay?"

"Okay," he responds and just shrugs his shoulders. "Callie?"

"Uhuh?"

"Do you think they'll send us away soon too? I kinda liked it here."

I grab my brother's shoulder and pull him closer to me, "I don't know, bud… But even if they do, I'm not ever leaving you again, okay?"

I slight smile appears on his face.

_But I can't help but wonder what the hell this girl is doing?_ I want to run down the stairs and chase after her, but that'd get Stef and Lena's attention and make things worse. _What the hell had they talked about anyway? Why did she feel the need to just bolt?_

Mariana comes in the room and sees us staring at the window, "What are you two looking at?"

"Oh. Nothing. So, what happened down there?" I ask knowing that she probably knows more than we do.

"Oh… Nothing," she answers with some hesitance so I know she's lying. "I mean, I don't really know. They were talking pretty low," she shrugs.

"Uh-huh," I answer. But I don't push the question anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

I'm sitting in my bed, trying to do everything possible to distract me from thinking about what happened. Callie and Jude went downstairs, shortly after the moms and Christina finished their conversation. I've done my English and algebra homework. Unfortunately, I still can't get the thought of Christina getting sent back to juvie out of my head. I mean, I don't even like the girl very much. After that huge argument we had while walking home, I should be glad she's probably leaving. But, juvie? For something that she didn't even do?

_God, why did I have to have a conscience?_ I grab a magazine from my backpack and start to flip through it, drowning myself in the pictures.

Jesus walks in, without knocking of course. "Hey," he says, but I don't bother looking up at him.

_I have to get a lock on that door…_

He walks over and sits on the bed beside me, "Are you really gonna let Christina take the fall for you? They're going to send her away."

_Why did he have to come home now?_

_Why couldn't he go practice volleyball at the school or something?_

I start to calm down as the voice of reason comes to me, and unfortunately that voice of reason was Jesus.

_Go figure!_

"They're going to be so mad at me," I practically whisper. "… The other night, when Ana just took all that money from me, like I was an ATM or something, not even a person, much less her daughter… I thought well, hey, at least I have two moms at home who love me…They're going to hate me," I say as I start to feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

Jesus jumped in, "They're not gonna hate you. I promise."

I know he's right, though. They have never told me they hated me. Not even once. But I still don't want to disappoint them. "They're totally going to cancel my Quinceañera."

Jesus just shrugs his shoulders, and we both stop talking when we hear a knock on the door. "Come in," I say.

Callie walks in, "Hey, sorry about that. Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asks me.

"I get the point. I'm gone," Jesus says and looks back at me, "You just do what you gotta do. Come talk to me afterwards."

"If I'm still breathing," I joke and Jesus walks out of the room.

"What's up?" I ask her.

"Have you heard what happened?"

"Yeah, and I'm on my way to confess," I respond.

She looks at me like she's about to say something but suddenly changed her mind.

"Is that it?" I ask.

"Yeah, I guess."

I walk slowly down the stairs and into the kitchen, dreading the conversation that I was about to have with my moms.

They're preparing for dinner and getting the salad ingredients ready, and they barely stop moving when I walk in, making it harder for me to get the right words out. "Hi?" Lena says, knowing that I've come downstairs for something.

Suddenly, I want to run back upstairs and read every single magazine I've ever owned, just to avoid all of this. I turn back around and see Jude staring at me, which causes me to face them. _I just have to blurt it out. If they don't hear me, that's their problem._

"Christina didn't sell Kelsey the drugs."

Both of my moms freeze, when they hear what I have to say. Mom speaks first, "Then who did?"

"Me… I sold them."

"Did Christina put you up to this?" Mama asks.

"What? No. I haven't seen her, since you sent me upstairs… but she didn't sell her the drugs."

"Mariana," Mom says in a disappointed tone.

"I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Well, what did you mean to happen?" Mom asks in an angrier tone.

Mama lifted her hand in the air to calm Mom down, as she took a deep breath and opened her mouth, "Mariana, why would you sell your brothers pills in the first place?"

"Because… I needed the money," I answer, hoping that the questions would end there, and they'd ground me for eternity and get it over with.

"For what?" Mom asks even more infuriated.

"I can't tell you," I whisper.

"I'm sorry? You can't what?" Mom practically yells, and I knew she was extremely pissed off at me already. Letting them know I've been in contact with my birth mom behind their backs would just make matters worse.

"It doesn't matter what I needed the money for. The point is that Christina didn't sell the pills. I did… So, there really isn't a reason why she should get sent back to juvie."

* * *

**Stef's POV**

Lena must've sensed that I was about to go off on that girl, because she sent her upstairs immediately after Mariana finished speaking. I'm sure that Mari was thankful that she did that, because only God knows what I've would've done.

"She thinks she can just confess something like that and leave out whatever information she pleases?" I ask Lena, trying to make some sense of the whole thing.

"We're not done with her. She'll tell us what happened. But first we need to discuss the Christina of it all," Lena answers.

"What's there to discuss? She didn't do it," I answer blankly.

Lena leans against the kitchen counter, "Yes, I heard her, Stef. But we just accused her of stealing Jesus's pills and threatened to call Bill."

"No, she was the one that told us to call Bill."

"Well, we didn't say that we weren't going to, which just makes it seem like we were."

"Yeah, well that's because we thought she stole his pills," I remind her.

"But she didn't."

"I know that, Love. But she didn't say that she was innocent either."

"Oh my God, I'm getting a migraine," Lena says as she puts her hand on her head.

"Fine, we won't call Bill then," I answer, in hopes that this conversation would come to an end. I could tell Lena was getting all worked up over nothing. We should focusing on why the hell our teenage daughter thinks it's okay to sell drugs at school, without giving us any explanation as to why…

"What I'm trying to get at is, what are we going to say to her?" Lena asks.

"We're going to apologize. What else is there to say?"

Lena and I walk over to the back door, open it, and step out into the backyard. The first thing we see is Brandon sitting on a chair, texting away. We both glance around and find no sign of Christina.

"B, have you seen Christina. She came out here, a little bit ago," I ask him.

"Uh. Nope. I've been here for longer than that and I haven't seen her. She's probably inside."

Lena and I exchange looks, thinking that we would've heard her come in, if that were the case.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

I ran as fast as I could out of that place.

_Screw that! If I'm going to juvie again, I'm going to make sure it's for something I actually DID. _

_What the hell is their problem? Do they just bring juvie kids to their house, only so they can throw them back out again?_

_I knew I shouldn't have trusted that cop. I should have told David that there was no way in hell I was staying here and fought harder to get another placement that night._

_I should have known better. _

_Poor Callie is in for one heck of a trip. I should have tried to warn her, but I knew I'd be risking too much by staying another second in that place._

_Hopefully, she'd get the hint._

I'm a few blocks away, when I start to run out of breath from all of the running. I know that I shouldn't be doing any type of exercise in the first place, especially not running, since I have asthma. But I'd have to suck it up, at least until I get farther away from this place.

As soon as a stop to take a breath, I see a black Honda Accord coupe pulling over beside me.

"Running from the police or something?" I young light-skinned guy asked. I couldn't tell what he really looked like from where I was standing and the darkness of the inside of his car made the sight of him even less noticeable.

"Ha-ha. Funny," I reply. _You have no freakin' clue how right you are._

"Need a lift?" he asks.

I think for a second. The smart idea would be to say, _'No, dude. You're a stranger. I'm sorry but thanks for offering.' _

But the fun idea would be to not think too much about the smart idea and just get in, to take a chance.

"Hello?" he asks wondering if I heard him at all.

"Um…" just as I'm about to decline, I start to hear police sirens.

_The fun idea just became the smart idea all of a sudden._

I get in the car quickly and slam the door shut.

"Damn girl. I wasn't going to kick you back out," he smiles.

I smile too, "Sorry, I guess I'm just not used to your car. I didn't mean to slam it."

"No problem… I'm Vico by the way."

"Christina."

"I've seen you in school; you're the new girl right? The one staying with the VP?"

"The one who STAYED with the VP. Never doing that again," I answer.

Vico starts driving down the row slowly, "I hear ya. That lady is straight up evil. Gave me detention today. That's where I just came from actually."

"Figured."

"What? That I would get detention? Do I look like a trouble maker or something?" he moved his hand up to his chest over his heart, to pretend that he was deeply offended.

"No, I just figured that she was straight up evil."

Vico kept driving. "So… am I going the right direction? Where are we headed?" he turned to the side to face me.

"I don't know you tell me?" I flirt, or at least try to. _To be honest, I'm not even sure what I'm doing or where I want to go. I know that I want to see my best friend, but I have no clue where she is. The last time we actually talked on the phone, she was in the process of moving to another foster home. We never discussed the details, because I didn't think I'd get out of juvie so soon._

"Oh really?" he answers with his eyebrows raised with sudden interest. "Well, I was on my way to the pier to drop off some beer and run a few more errands. There's going to be party tonight by the beach. You should definitely come. Things could get quite interesting."

"I bet they would."

"So that's a yes then?"

"What the hell, right?"

"What the hell," he finished.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

**Lena's POV**

Stef and I ran inside as soon as we realized, that Christina was no longer in the backyard. Stef immediately started scanning the house for any sight of her. Callie walked into the kitchen after she must've noticed that Stef had angrily sped past her.

"Callie, is Christina upstairs? Have you seen her?" I asked, silently hoping that we hadn't heard her come in and were just assuming the worst.

"Uh, no. I haven't seen her since Stef sent Jude and I upstairs. Why? What happened?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I think she's gone. Do you have any idea where she might be? Did she mention anyone to you? I know you guys probably got along more than either of us did." _Anything this girl could give us could be helpful._

"No she didn't mention anyone."

I sighed once I realized we were completely out of luck, "Ok, thank you honey."

"Mhm," she replied and she exits the kitchen.

Stef returned just as Callie walked out, "I'm going to go look for her. She couldn't have gotten very far on foot, right?" Stef asked me as she grabbed the car keys from the bowl in the kitchen. "I'll be back soon and I'll call you as soon as I know anything."

* * *

**Brandon's POV**

"Hey, did Aiden get her yet?" I asked as I barged into the kitchen. I stop in my tracks when I see Mama sitting down at the kitchen table, leaning over with her head down, and her hands on the crown of her head.

_Something must've happened,_ I thought.

"Hey Lena. Are you okay? What's going on?" I asked in a concerned voice.

My Mom lifted her head from it's position on her hands and sat up straight, "Oh nothing, B… We think Christina took off… Again," she stressed the last word.

"Really? Where'd she go?" I asked. _I can't say I'm surprised. That girl is completely out of her mind. I knew she was crazy, ever since before we went on our mission to save Jude. But I didn't think she was stupid enough to pull something like this, just two days later._

"We're not sure. Your mom went to go see if she could find her."

"Okay. Well, let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

"Thank you, honey."

_The doorbell rings. _"That's Aiden," I said matter-of-factly.

"Go ahead," she gestured me away from the kitchen. I feel bad leaving her like this, but I don't want to keep Aiden waiting outside either.

I walked over to the front door and opened it. "Come on in," I offered flatly. He could obviously tell that something was wrong by my expression.

"You alright?" he asked reluctantly.

"Yeah. My new foster sister just ran away, and it's causing some drama right now. I should've seen this coming," I answered as I closed the door.

"The pretty one that was at the school today? With long dark hair and green eyes?"

"Yeah, you met her?"

"I wouldn't say met, but I just saw her get into Vico's car on my way here. It looked like something was going on with her."

"Really? That's great. Do you know where they were going?" I asked with sudden interest.

"Probably to that party at the pier I'm guessing. All the cool kids go there, and Vico's not one to miss a party."

* * *

**Christina's POV**

The party was about to start and it was getting pretty dark. Vico and I had been running around picking up liquor and other snacking-type food all over the place and dropping them off here.

"Hey, I think there's one more case in the car. Wanna help me with it?" he asked flirtatiously.

_Wanna tell me why you can't pick up a 24 pack of beer by yourself?_ I wanted to ask. But he got me out of a tight situation, so maybe I should be a little nice to him. "Sure," I replied as we walked back over to his car.

"So, where are you going after this? Any big plans?" he asked.

"Uh, I don't know. I'm not much of a planner, in case you couldn't tell," I smiled. "I like doing things at the spur of the moment. Life's more fun that way. Plus, you can't really be disappointed about anything, if you have no expectations, right?"

"I'm liking your way of thinking," he answered as he pointed a finger at me. "…You know, you're not like a lot of the girls around here? You're different."

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?_ I thought, but I didn't ask him that way, "Different good? Or different bad?"

He laughed. "Different, very good. No one wants to be around someone's who's predictable."

"True."

Vico opened the passenger seat door and nudged his head foward, "Get in."

"What?"

"Just get in. I can be unpredictable too, ya know?" he said as he gave me a flirtatious smile.

"Then, I guess that I shouldn't even bother asking where we're going then, huh?" I asked as I got in.

He closed the door and walked around to the passenger side to get in. "Who said we were going anywhere?" he replied as he closed the door behind him and leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back, not entirely sure why. He was kind of cute and surprisingly enough I liked to see this sporadic side in someone other than myself.

He pulled his face away from mine for a second, "Did you predict that?"

I smiled at him, "Maybe."

He leaned in again. "What about this?" he asked as he kissed me again and reached over to pull the lever of my seat, so that it'd recline backward, as he kept his lips on mine the entire time. There was no way I could actually back away at the moment, so I removed my lips from his and moved my face to the side, so that he was kissing my right cheek instead of my lips.

"Alright, that's enough, Vico," I warned.

_Is this dude serious?_

"What do you mean? You said that you wanted to party. Didn't you?" he interjected as he lowered his kisses further down onto my neck.

"Yeah, but I'm not comfortable with this. I just met you," I tried to reason.

"Exactly. You said you wanted unpredictable. You're used to doing things at the spur of the moment. So, don't think to much about it, okay?"

_I did say that_, I thought to myself. Awkwardly, I found myself just lying there as I continued to let him kiss me on my neck and then back on my lips.

_I'm not a hypocrite_, I tried to remind myself as he moved his hands to my belly and started to pull up my shirt. That's when I knew I had enough.

I pushed his body away from mine with my hands, "I like unpredictability. But I never said I was easy either," I answered as I tried to open the door handle and pull myself upward, but he grabbed hold of my arm, slammed the car door shut, and pushed me back down.

"Yeah, well I'm not finished!"

* * *

**Stef's POV**

_Black Honda Accord coupe. Black Honda Accord coupe. There's gotta be a million of those around here,_ I thought as I reached the pier and started driving around in the parking lot with my windows rolled down. The tints on my car made it almost impossible to see at night, which just stressed me out even more.

_If I find the car, then I'll at least know that she's here. _

_What the hell is wrong with her anyway? _

_Who gets into a car with a complete stranger? _

_I know Vico goes to the school with the kids, but that's all I know, and she probably knows even less than that. She's been here for how long? A couple of days?_

_These girls are not making this easy for me… _

_I know she didn't take the drugs and sell them at school, but she still disappeared twice on us now and put herself in danger to make matters worse. I just told scolded the two of them about this very thing last night. It's like she wasn't listening to a word I had said. Does she have a death wish?_

_I don't think Lena and I can handle her. And I'm going to have to call Bill, if I actually do find her. She refused to listen to me or Lena, and I really don't need the added stress. It's bad enough Mariana is selling drugs at school and Jesus is always acting up, but now this…And what should I do about Callie and Jude? How do I explain to Christina that it's not working out, but keep the other two in my home? _

_And why do I keep contradicting myself? I need to make a decision and I need to make it now. Maybe I won't even find her, and I could avoid this confusion all together._

Just as I was about to call it quits and go home, I saw another Black Honda Accord Coupe come up to the right of me. I ran the zillionth license plate into the system and before my search results pop up I heard a girl's scream.

"Get off of me, you stupid fuck!"

I glanced up at the car and could tell it was in fact coming from there. I quickly got out of my car, drew my gun, and walked slowly over to the passenger's side of the car. The windows were tinted really dark, and the night only added to the little visibility that I had.

"Shut up! Just let it happen!" I heard a guy yell.

At the exact moment that I almost reach out for the door handle, there was a collision against the window, which startled me. And the glass shards shattered onto the ground barely missing by hands. "YOU BITCH!" the guy yelled and I immediately heard a slap following directly afterward.

"FREEZE! POLICE! GET OUT OF THE CAR WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" I yelled as loudly as I could, to the only thing that I can see, which was the top of a guy's head with a huge bloody gash on his hairline. I guessed that the contusion was from the collision against the window.

_Long silence._

"I SAID GET OUT OF THE CAR WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR NOW!" I yelled even louder than the first time.

I watched as the head moved and the car door slowly opened. A kid my son's age, my guess is Vico, stepped out of the car with his hands up in the air in submission. I kept my gun focused on him, just incase he decided to make a false move.

"She attacked me! That girl is insane!"

"And you're a piece of shit!" the girl in the car yelled back.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

**Stef's POV**

"UP AGAINST THE CAR!" I yell at the built young man who steps out with his hands up in the air.

He doesn't listen to me, "Officer, thank God you got here when you did. This crazy girl attacked me, when I tried to stop her from stealing my car." He pointed in the direction of Christina.

I could barely see her though, being that the car door was only a quarter-way open. The only thing I could only make out was the outline of her black leather jacket.

"Like I'd really steal this piece of shit you call a car!" I hear Christina yell. Strangely, I relax a little after hearing her voice. I don't have a clear vision of her, but at least I know that she's okay. But I make sure not to lose my focus and keep my eyes on Vico.

I see him lower his hands from the air to his jeans, in an effort to keep them from falling down and exposing himself. I keep my eyes on his hands, as I am trained to do in these situations, and notice that his zipper was open, "I was just protecting myself, mam. I swear."

I could see right though him. Not to mention, I heard the tail of their argument and heard him slap her, which just made me feel sick. "And you had to lower your pants in order to do so?" I ask him rhetorically. I shove my gun in its holster and reach behind my back to grab my cuffs, keeping my eyes focused on him, assuming that he was my biggest concern at the moment. I walk closer to him and physically turn his body around and shove him up against the car, once it's obvious that he refused my order to lean himself against it.

"It's not what it looks like, mam. You got it all wrong," he argues as he allows me to grab both of his hands. I throw my cuffs around his wrists to keep him from making any false moves, even though it doesn't seem like he was going to resist anymore. "That girl is straight up nuts," he claims, which just causes me tighten the cuffs even more.

"OW!" he yells in pain as the metal presses against his skin.

"A little friendly advice, stop talking," I mumble in his ear.

Just as I'm about to open the passenger seat door to ask Christina if she's all right, I hear the driver's side door open, and see Christina bolting again. "CHRISTINA! STOP!" I yell out for her, but she acts as if she didn't hear me.

"Shit!" I mutter as I lower Vico onto the ground, so that he wouldn't try to run too. As soon as he's down, I start running after her. "CHRISTINA! STOP RIGHT THERE!" I yell as I try to catch up to her. "POLICE!" I yell hoping that reminding her that I was a cop would frighten her enough to stop, but to my surprise it doesn't.

_Is this girl seriously running from a police officer?_

* * *

**Christina's POV**

_How did this crazy bitch find me? _I think to myself as I keep running, knowing that there's no way in hell I'm stopping now. She keeps yelling my name and telling me to stop, but I'm not listening to a damn thing she says anymore.

_Screw her if she thinks I'm stopping for her conniving ass! _

All of a sudden, I'm forced to stop short when I see two cars speed right passed me. If I hadn't stopped when I did, they would've run me over for sure.

After I got over the shock of almost dying, I try to pick up my speed again, but Stef grabs hold of my arms from behind.

"GET OFF OF ME!" I yell at her as I try to pull myself out of her grasp.

"Stop. Fighting. Me," she says in between breaths as she tugs forcibly on my arms.

"THEN GET OFF OF ME AND I WILL!" I yell back at her, as if this situation could be solved if she just let me go.

We continue to struggle for a minute or two, and I eventually have to give in, "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! YOU WIN! I'LL STOP FIGHTING! GOD!" I calm my tense body out of exhaustion. I had been fighting Vico in the car and was all out of energy by the time I bolted. She had an advantage over me from the beginning, and I was pissed about it.

I curse myself for not being quieter while opening the car door.

After Stef sees that I'm no longer trying to get away, I can sense that she calms down too even though I can see her glaring at me with piercing eyes and her teeth are still clenched tightly. She grabs hold of my upper right arm and pulls me up, "Alright, let's go," she says, and I'm forced to walk side-by-side with her back to the car.

_Wow, this was pointless. _

_All of this, and I'm still back in the same freakin' position I was in a few hours ago._

When we reach Vico's car, I see him handcuffed and lying on the ground. I assume that she's going to throw my ass on the floor too, but she pushes me into the passenger seat of his car.

I try to pull my feet into the vehicle, but she stops me by telling me to face toward her. She already knew that I was going to try to bolt from the other side again, "Uh, no-no. Your feet stay on the ground," she says sternly as she points to the floor beside the car.

"I told you she's nuts!" Vico yells. "I bet she has a record and everything!"

"And I bet you better shut the hell up!" I yell back at him and try to stand up so that I can kick him while he's lying on the ground. But Stef pushes me back into the car.

"Alright. Alright," she says in a calming tone, as if I were a freakin' miniature poodle rather than a person. I give her a dirty look, but she doesn't see it.

I watch as she takes out her cell-phone and starts to make a phone call. I hear her talking a few seconds later, "Hey Mike. I could use some help here. I'm at the pier in parking lot 6A. Please tell me you're close by…" She waits for a reply. "…That's good enough. I'll fill you in as soon as you get here. Thanks."

I lean my head against the black leather seat, suddenly realizing that I'm definitely going back to juvie. It's only been 3 days and I'm already going back. And that's not even the worst part to me. What pisses me off more is that I didn't even get to see Shanelle or Jess.

_I shut my eyes and pretend I'm somewhere else. _

_Anywhere else than where I am right now._

I'm forced to open my eyes, at the sound of Stef's voice and when I do I can see that she's bent down in front of me. I stare at her strangely and notice that her voice sounds much softer when she decides to speak."Hey, are you okay?" she asks.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I retort. "I mean, I'm crazy. Didn't you hear? I tried to steal his car and I attacked him."

Stef shakes her head, "Christina, you and I both know that's not what happened."

"Then, what did happen huh? Since you're the expert on the truth. What else did I do? What other crime are you going to try to pin on me?"

"Alright, I deserve that," she says as she glances down at the floor.

_What the hell is she talking about?_ _This chick is definitely on some bipolar shit right now. _

"Whatever lady," I reply as I shake my head.

The expression on Stef's face softens even more, "Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot here—"

"Ya think?" I ask her sarcastically.

_But I can't help but be a bitch sometimes, especially in situations that involve the police. And especially in situations when I'm being accused of something I didn't do._

Stef's eyes widen and her nostrils flare up a bit and it's obvious that she's getting frustrated with me. But honestly, I don't really care.

_It's her fault that I'm in this whole mess to begin with and in an hour or so, I'll never have to see her again._

She lets out a huge breath and tries to contain herself, "What I'm trying to do here is apologize."

"For what?" I ask.

"For not believing you about the pills. I know that you didn't steal them… and Lena and I shouldn't have ever accused you."

"It's fine," I say flatly.

_Is that all she wanted? To be forgiven?_

_Nothing she says now is going to make a difference, so I try to keep this conversation as short as possible._

"No, it's not fine," she answers angrily.

"Yeah it is. It's totally cool. I wasn't surprised anyway," I shrug my shoulders, trying to convince her that I wasn't affected by any it; but more so, trying to convince myself. _I shouldn't let what other people think about of me get to me; especially people that I know are only in my life temporarily._

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks in a confused tone, as if she had no idea why I was acting the way I was.

I roll my eyes in annoyance, "It means I wasn't surprised. You're a cop. I shouldn't have trusted you. That was my mistake to begin with. I know better for next time. So, thanks."

"That's not fair, Christina. I brought you into my home—"

I interrupt her. _Another bad habit of mine_, "Yeah. Thanks for that. I've had a blast. Can't you tell?" I ask, gesturing to my surroundings. "A cop in my face, the smelly ass car I was almost raped in a few minutes ago, the dumbass on the floor that almost raped me, and the fact that I'm in the middle of nowhere. Thank you for this. Seriously. I'll be forever grateful."

_There goes my sarcasm again, rearing its ugly head at the worst of times_.

Stef stands up, leans her hands on the hood of Vico's car and stares down at me, "Christina, I'm sorry about what this idiot did to you, but I didn't put you in this position. You did. Remember?"

"Whatever," I answer as I shake my head in protest, not wanting to hear another word out of her mouth. She wasn't helping anything anyway.

"You put yourself in danger last night too. Remember? Luring a grown man out of his house, walking with him to the middle of nowhere, stealing his keys, and then running from him. And now today, you run away from my home and get into a stranger's car like it's nothing… Do you not realize how dangerous these situations are, Christina? I mean, if I hadn't shown up here when I had, then—"

"Oh please, Stef. You didn't save my ass or anything. I was handling the situation just fine before you got here, so just save it, please."

"Oh really?" she asks in disbelief.

"Yes, really. I would have been perfectly fine had you not shown up, so don't get on your high-horse all of a sudden."

"That's not how I see it," she replies as she crosses her arms over her body and stares at me with apparent anger in her eyes.

"Well, I'm not really interested in how you see things. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. And I didn't ask you to follow me either, so don't blame me because you chose to waste your time here."

Stef just stares at me now with disbelief and turns her gaze toward a silver car that just pulls up next to us.

_Thank God, someone is here to save me from having to continue with this retarded argument._

An older man gets out of his car and glances at Vico, "Wanna tell me what's going on, Stef?"

"Mike, I caught this young man attacking Christina," she tells him. "His name is Vico, Vico Cerrar."

"That's not true officer," Vico tries to convince Mike.

Stef ignores his comment, "And there's a case of beer in the backseat, so whatever you can get him on is fine. Run his plates. All of his information is there. I have something I have to take care of. You'll be okay?"

"Do I have a choice?" Mike asks jokingly. "I'll be fine, Stef. You just do whatever you have to do."

"Thanks, Mike. I really appreciate it."

"Not a problem," he replies as he picks Vico up from the floor.

Stef grabs my arm, pulls me out of Vico's car and walks me over to her own. She opens the passenger-side door and pushes me in.

I watch her walk around the front of the car and stare at her in confusion. She gets in from the other side and turns on the ignition. And without saying a word, she slowly drives out of the parking lot.


	10. Chapter 10

**So for some odd reason, last chapter wouldn't update the way I had expected it to, so if you missed reading the entire situation when Stef found Christina with Vico, I would definitely go back and read it. Each chapter is crucial to understand where I'm going with this story, so it'll be really confusing if you skip the important parts.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

* * *

**Stef's POV**

After leaving the pier with Christina, the car ride had been a long and silent one. This was mainly my fault. I had been driving around aimlessly, contemplating on what I should do with this girl. The easiest thing would have been to tell Bill to come and get her, to tell him that she had been causing too many problems, which in no way is a lie.

She disappeared on us twice in three days.

But every once in a while, I glance at her face, while pretending to check for cars in the side-view mirror. She still has her arms crossed and is staring straight ahead. Not once, willing to make eye contact with me, but her eyes tell a different story. To my surprise she looks terrified. And even though its dark outside, I can still see the red mark on her left cheek from where Vico hit her.

"Where are we going?" she asks. "You're going the wrong way. The police station is back that way," she claims matter-of-factly.

When I don't answer her, she turns her head to face me, "Uh, hello? I demand to know where you're taking me." The sternness in her voice really makes me want to laugh. I can tell she's frightened when I don't answer her, because she sinks back down in her seat.

_Long silence._

She turns to face me again. "Can you let me out of the car?" she asks.

"No," I reply, which causes her face back forward.

_Long silence again._

She faces me again, "Look lady, whatever you're thinking about doing. Don't do it, okay. I know people. BIG people. And they know exactly where I've been staying. So whatever plan you've concocted in your head that'll result in my demise, forget it, okay? If anything happens to me, they will come after you. I can promise you that. So, your best bet is to let me out of the damn car, before you do something that you'll regret."

I try my best to keep a straight face and stare at the road, but her soliloquy was too funny, and I have to burst out laughing. _What exactly does she think I'm going to do?_ I wonder.

Christina looks astounded that I think her behavior is hilarious.

She tightens her eyelids together, "Oh my God. Help me Jesus. This woman is out of her damn mind."

I reach my hand over to touch her arm and relax her, but she opens her eyes and starts screaming at the top of her lungs, "Ahhhhhhhh! GET OFF OF ME, YOU PSYCHOTIC BITCH!" She immediately pushes my hand away.

Her screams make me nervous and force me to pull over. "Christina, relax," I say in a stern voice but make sure not to yell, because I know that would only make matters worse.

As soon as I pull over, she tries to open the passenger side door, but I put the safety lock on ahead of time, so that she wouldn't try anything stupid. This seemed to have stressed her out more so, because now she's banging on the glass window attempting to break it.

I'm forced to pull her arms backward, so that she doesn't hurt herself, but she doesn't stop ranting, "Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Look, I'm sorry about whatever I did to you to piss you off. But please don't kill me and burry me out here in the middle up nowhere. Please, I'm begging you," she sobbed.

_What?_ was all I could think.

I could tell by her voice that she was seriously frightened of me. So, I pull her all the way back, so that I could see her face fully. Her eyes were shut completely and I can see tear streaks on her face.

I release her slowly and she backs up against the passenger door. She opens her eyes and I can see her looking at me frighteningly.

"Sweets, I wasn't going to hurt you," I try to soothe in my most calm and unthreatening voice.

"Then, where were you taking me?" she asked in between breaths. "The police station was in the other direction." She points behind us.

"I was thinking of what to do with you," I reply, which I suddenly realize was the wrong thing to say.

"Oh my God, you were going to kill me," she covers her mouth so that she couldn't scream, and I can see more tears start to form in her eyes.

I try to reach my hand out to her, but she lifts her arms up in defense mode and shuts her eyes again, as if anticipating an attack.

"Okay, okay. I won't touch you." I reply with my hands up in front of my body, so that she could see that I was harmless. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

She opens her eyes and moves her arms from covering her face, but she keeps them in front of her body, as if she is waiting for met to go back on my word. "I just want to go to the police station. Please just take me there. Please," she pleads.

"Okay, okay," I reply to keep her calm. I turn the engine back on, make a U-turn, and start driving in the opposite direction. Eventually I can see that she's no longer crying, but she's still backed up against the passenger door and her eyes are fixed on me."…You know it's not good to sit like that. It's quite dangerous actually."

"I DON'T CARE!" she yells.

This surprises me, because I was only looking out for her wellbeing.

We sat in silence throughout the majority of the drive, until I finally decide to speak again, "Okay…You know, I wasn't going to hurt you. I'm not crazy. I was just laughing because I thought what you said was funny. I didn't mean to scare you." I keep glancing at her while I'm speaking to pick up on her reaction.

"Then, why were you going the wrong way?" she snaps.

"Because I was confused about something and I was thinking about it, while I was driving."

* * *

She remains silent, but I was honestly burning to ask her my question, "Why would you think I was driving you out here so that I would kill you?" As soon as I finish asking the question, I pull into the police station's parking lot and put the car in park.

"No reason," she replies and I know that she is lying. My cop instincts tell me that something must've triggered her to react that way. No one breaks out in a mess of tears and throws a tantrum for no reason.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask as I try to put my hand on her knee, but suddenly remember that she's not too good with physical contact.

She sees my hand come close toward her and instinctively moves her knee out of the way. But she calms down when she sees, that I put my hand back to my side, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to try to touch you. I just communicate a lot physically… But why were you so afraid of me? Is it because I'm a cop?"

"No," she says flatly.

"Then what?" She doesn't answer me, and I'm not sure if I should press her anymore than I already have. I know that she's had a tough day. Especially after the pill thing happened, then Vico, and then me. But I ask her again anyway, "Why did you think I was going to hurt you?"

"Because of my mom," she replies and tries to wipe away her tears.

I can't help but be confused. "What do you mean, your mom?"

She let out a deep breath, "She tried to kill me, okay?"

Just as I was about to say something, she continued, "…She got really mad at me one night, and she drove me out into the middle of nowhere. She tried to hit me with a shovel, and I knew that she was going to burry me right then and there. So I ran from her and I never saw her again after that."

It takes me a little while to process what Christina had just confessed. And then suddenly, her reaction to my driving her out into the middle of nowhere makes perfect sense. She saw me as a threat because I was an older woman, her foster-mom, who was angry with her and driving her to an unknown destination with no explanation.

"Look Christina, I'm sorry for making you feel that way. But I promise you that that was not my intention. If I had known about this—"

"It doesn't matter," she shakes her head and leans up from her position against the door, wiping her tears from her eyes with her sleeves.

"Yes, it does matter. If Bill would've told me then I wouldn't have—"

"Bill doesn't know."

I glance at her strangely, "What do you mean, he doesn't know?"

"I didn't even know him then. I didn't meet Bill until a year later, when—"

"You were living on your own," I finished for her.

"No, when I was living with my friends."

I nod my head, even though I didn't see much of a difference in those two statements. She wasn't living with an adult, so she was living on her own to me.

"Okay, can we go inside now, I'm really cold," she says and I can tell she is because her goose bumps are clearly visible. But her tone was almost nonchalant, like she hadn't just been crying just a few seconds ago.

I stare at her for a second, astounded at how she could collect herself in so little time. She acted as if she had not just revealed to me that her own mother tried to burry her alive. She looks at me with her hand going for the door handle, waiting for me to let her out and book her.

But I do something that I never thought I'd do when I left the house in search for her.

I turn my car back on, crank the heat, and start backing out of the parking space.

"What are you doing?" she asks me, with that terrified look back on her face. And it just makes me sad that she still thinks that I would try to hurt her.

"I'm taking us back home. Seat belt please."

She looks at me as if she's about to protest and tell me to let her our of the car and take her in. But after a few seconds of deliberation and a long staring contest with me, she leans back into her seat and pulls the seatbelt over her body.

I wanted to smile at the sight of her actually listening to me, but I didn't want to freak her out as I did earlier. So I do my best to conceal it and continue to drive back to the house.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

**Lena's POV**

I had been waiting almost three hours for Stef to get back. And just as I was about to call her cell for the twelfth time, I hear the front door open.

"Hun, I'm home!" I hear her yell.

I get out from the kitchen and am surprised to see Christina walking up the stairs up to Mariana's room. "What's going on? Why didn't you answer your phone?" I ask Stef.

"I'm sorry love. I was a bit preoccupied."

"Was she at the pier?"

"Yes," Stef motions me over toward the kitchen area so that we can talk privately.

"And you brought her back?" I ask confusingly.

"Uh-huh," Stef nods her head.

"Why? She hasn't listened to a word we said since she got here."

"I know love."

"And you're okay with that?"

"No. Of course I'm not okay with that, but a lot of stuff has happened since we both left the house."

"Okay…Like what?" I ask with sudden interest as to why Stef seemed so calm when she left angrily.

"Like Vico."

"Vico Cerrar? The senior?"

"Tall, built, light-skin, green eyes."

I nod my head "Yes, that's the Vico I'm talking about. What does he have to do with any of this?"

Stef takes a deep breath before she whispers, "He… attacked her."

"What?" I respond with exaggeration and suddenly wish that I hadn't been so loud.

"I got there just in time before he could do anything, thank God."

"And what? You were at the station the whole time, filing a police report, and you couldn't bother to pick up the phone?" I ask in annoyance by what my she was telling me.

"No, I had to chase after Christina because she ran again," she reasons.

"And you sent her upstairs by herself?" I ask bewildered by what Stef was telling me and the fact that she just sent a runaway teen, who tried to get away from us twice already, upstairs by herself.

"Yes and it's fine, honey. I already talked to her."

I shake my head in confusion, suddenly wondering why I'm the worried one and she's the calm one all of a sudden.

She continues, "After I grabbed her, and Mike arrived, I drove around with her in the car. I was thinking about what to do with her."

"And…" I'm still waiting for Stef to explain why she thinks that this is a good idea.

"And she completely flipped out on me…She saw that I wasn't going in the direction of the police station and…Lena, she thought I was going to hurt her," Stef's voice was soft and I could see her eyes starting to tear, but I'm still not understanding why.

"What?" I ask, still confused by what Stef was revealing to me. "Why would she—"

"Because she thought I was going to burry her. She broke down in front of me and I…. I couldn't just lock her up after that."

I'm honestly confused now. "Why would she think something like that? You never—"

"I know love, but her mother tried to."

"Oh my God," I mumble at the thought that someone's own mother would try to do something like that.

Stef nods her head.

"Why didn't Bill tell us about this? I read her file from top to bottom. There wasn't anything in there about this."

"Because, she didn't tell him. It happened before she met Bill."

"When she was 12?"

"Eleven," Stef corrects.

I was angry now, "What could she have done at eleven years old that would cause her mother to—"

"I don't know."

"So, what are we supposed to do about this? She can't just disappear whenever she wants. This running away thing isn't okay."

"I know, love."

"Did you tell her that?"

"We can talk to her tomorrow about all of that. She's had a bad enough night."

I calm down after hearing Stef's calm voice, "Did I mention that you keep me sane?"

She laughs, "At least once every week."

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

I'm surprised when I hear a knock on my bedroom door and see Christina walk in. I figured that my mom would get rid of her after she ran away. And now, she's sitting on one of the beds that my moms got them.

I'm glad that she's here instead of juvie, but I'm also worried of what my mom is going to do now that she's back.

Since Mom left to go find Christina, Mama had asked me what I need the money for. She lectured me for almost an hour, and I could tell that she didn't believe the reason that I gave her.

And I don't blame her.

I didn't have the so-called "dress" that I said I spent the money on. But I couldn't tell her the truth, no matter how much she pressed me on it.

I couldn't tell her that I handed all that money over to Ana, especially after I said I didn't want to meet her. She would think I went behind her back.

Mama was always more sensitive to those things than Mom was, and I just knew she would hate me if she found out.

They both would.

She said that she would have to discuss my punishment with Mom first, but I already knew that I'd be grounded forever.

I didn't even bother to bring up the Quincenera, because I knew that they'd shut it down immediately.

* * *

**Callie's POV**

Christina walks in and sits down on the bed next to mine. Her face is red and I can tell that she was crying.

"You okay?" Mariana asks and I want to toss my pillow at her.

From my experience, every time someone asked me if I was okay when I wasn't, it would only make me feel worse.

But surprisingly, she doesn't tear-up more at the question.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she replies in a flat tone.

Mariana keeps going, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't confess earlier. I should have, and we could have avoided this whole mess."

Christina puts her hand in the air to keep Mariana from continuing, "Whoa whoa whoa. Wait a minute... You set me up?" she asks angrily.

"No, I didn't set you up. How was I supposed to know that you would get blamed for it?" Mariana defends.

"Why would you sell your brother's pills in the first place?" Christina asks

"You wouldn't understand."

"You're right. I wouldn't. So don't even bother answering the question. I don't even wanna know."

Just then, we hear a knock on Mariana's door and Stef walks in. "Mariana, Mama and I want to talk to you downstairs, please."

I know that she's in trouble, and she knows it to. I can tell by the sadness in her face as she follows Stef out of the room.

As soon as she leaves, I turn my attention to Christina, "I thought you weren't coming back."

"I wasn't," Christina replies as she changes into some pajamas that she grabbed from her bag.

"You know, there's two empty drawers for you in the dresser. I only needed one."

"That's okay," she looks at me as she slides her green duffel bag under the bed.

"You know, I'm not going to steal your stuff," I smile at her, because I'm surprised that she'd think I would.

She smiles back, "I know. But we don't know about Mariana on the other hand," she jokes and I shake my head. "…But honestly, I never unpack. It has nothing to do with you."

_Why not? _I wonder. "But they offered to foster us until we have a permanent placement."

"And you believed them? Rule number one: Never. Trust. Anyone."

I didn't even know how to respond, so I didn't.

"This is temporary. So I'll treat it that way. I never unpack in places where I know I'm not going to be in for long. Hell, I don't unpack, period. You never know when you might just have to grab your stuff and go," she replies as she lies back down onto the bed.

"Go where? And where did you go today anyway?"

"Don't even ask," she replies as she places the comforter over her body and closes her eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

_The Next Morning_

**Christina's POV**

I woke up this morning to someone shaking me awake. "What the hell?" I ask the cloudy figure I see standing on the side of my bed. I hear a laugh and am finally able to open my eyes all the way. Stef is standing in front of me, still in her pajamas, with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Hey, Sweets. Can you come downstairs please? Lena and I would like to talk to you before everyone gets up."

I sigh heavily, which apparently doesn't go unnoticed by the raised eyebrow Stef gives me. "Sorry," I say as I get up and walk down the stairs.

She follows me down and then points me in the direction of the kitchen

As soon as I enter, I see Lena sitting at the table with her fingers wrapped her mug. "Good morning," she says and gestures to the chair in front of her.

"There's nothing good about mornings," I mumble as I take a seat. _And I'm pretty sure there's going to be nothing good about this conversation…_

"You're right about that," Stef agrees as she takes a seat next to Lena.

"So, what's up?" I ask, not wanting to waste any time with the 'How'd you sleep?' part of the conversation.

Lena glances at Stef for some indication to continue, "Well, um…first we wanted to apologize for accusing you of stealing Jesus's pills. It was wrong of us to jump to conclusions like that and… we're sorry."

"Okay…well, I already told Stef that it was fine. So…"

Lena looks at Stef as if she were unsure of what to say next, so Stef steps in at her partner's hesitance, "Well, we feel like it wasn't, so we wanted to apologize again."

"Okay. Is that it?" I ask as I start getting back up from my seat.

"No," Stef continues and I sit back down. "We both feel that we needed to talk to you about the, um…"

"Running away," Lena finishes for her. "It's not okay for you to do that."

_It's not okay for you to accuse me of shit I didn't do either, _I want to say but I bite my tongue. "Well, I figured I was going to back to juvie anyway, so I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal. Honestly, I would rather go back for something I did than something I didn't do."

Stef pipes in, "We wouldn't have done that, so you would've got sent back for something you could've prevented."

"What are you talking about, Stef? Do you not remember taking me to the police station last night," I say matter-of-factly.

"You asked me to, Christina."

"Well, I didn't know that. I mean… I didn't expect you to accuse me in the first place, so how would I have known that you weren't going to send me back?"

Lena leans forward a bit, "Well, the point is we're telling you now, so that none of this happens again. Okay?"

Stef continues, "We want you to understand, that what you did yesterday was very dangerous. Getting into Vico's car was a very dumb thing to do. Last night could have been a lot worse than it was. A LOT worse."

"I know. It won't happen again," I assure her, even though I know I'm lying.

"Okay. Good," Stef says as she takes another sip of her coffee.

"Is that it?" I ask.

Both women look like they're about to say something but quickly change their minds. "Yes Sweets. You can go back upstairs. You still have a fifteen minutes to sleep," Stef says and I'm glad she finally ended the conversation.

I hoped that they wouldn't mention what I confessed about my mother last night, because I wasn't entirely sure what I'd tell them.

_I knew that I could never tell them the whole story._

* * *

_At School (Still Christina's POV)_

I walk to an empty table at lunch and open my brown paper bag. I remove the sandwich and discover that it's tuna._ Yuck!_ I immediately crumble it up and toss it into the nearest trashcan. I impress myself when I actually make it in.

"What'd that sandwich ever do to you?" I hear guy's voice ask from behind me.

_Crap!_ I thought and I hoped not to see one of Stef and Lena's sons behind me.

I couldn't hide my relief when I saw that it was Jasper, "Oh, it's just you," I say nonchalantly.

He laughs, "Well, hello yourself."

I realize how rude my comment sounded, "Sorry."

"So, you have something against food?" he asks as he takes a seat across from me.

"No, I have something against fish. They're smelly and slimy and I don't understand why someone would want to eat them. Just the thought makes me want to vomit."

"And the thought of you vomiting is exactly what I needed before starting my lunch," he replies as he puts his Styrofoam-plate down with a chicken patty and powdered-mash potatoes.

"If you wanna call that a lunch," I reply, realizing how unappetizing his plate looks.

"Are you always this delightful?" he jokes.

"Pretty much," I answer.

"Good to know…So, I'm guessing you don't want a bite of my chicken patty then, huh?"

"I think I'd rather fish the fish out of the garbage can."

"I'd love to get a picture of that."

"I bet you would."

I watch him stand up and toss his Styrofoam-plate toward the garbage. And I'm not completely shocked when he misses, not even touching the rim of the bin. I have to laugh at his sad attempt though, "So, I'm guessing you're a basketball player then, huh?"

He sadly walks over to pick up his plate and throws it in the bin, "What gave me away?"

"I think it was your mad skills. I mean, I never saw someone throw something so big in the complete opposite direction of their target. That takes some serious expertise."

He smiles. "Well I do what I can for my fans," he says as he gestures and waves in random directions to no one.

"They really love you. I can tell," I joke.

"You know who else is going to love me?"

* * *

I stare at him confused by his question and suddenly feel someone's cold hands go over my eyes and something being pointed to my temple, "GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!" I hear a girl's voice.

And then another, "NOW BITCH!"

I have to smile once I realize whose voices they were and I turn my body around. Shanelle was standing in back of me and Jess had her hand shaped like a gun that was being pointed to my head.

"You bitches are evil!" I get up and hug them for what seems like forever. I finally let go and look over at Jasper, who's surprisingly smiling. "You did this?"

"Are you gonna beat my ass now?" he jokes.

"Why?" I can't hide my confusion.

"Because I do what I can do for my fans, remember?"

"Oh, I'm your fan now, huh?"

He takes a step closer, "Yup."

I can't help but like him now and I hate myself for it. "Well, thank you. This is actually one of the nicest things that anyone's ever done for me."

"Well, I'm glad you thought it was nice. I was getting a little worried there, when I thought they were sticking you up… So, I'll catch you later then," he says as he starts walking toward the school.

"Yep," I answer.

Shanelle talks first, "Damn girl. Less than a week outta juvie and you're already bagging the baddest mofo in the school."

"The hottest mofo," Jess corrects.

I shake my head at them and sit back down, "Nobody's bagging anyone. I just met him yesterday, and I had no idea that he'd do this."

They sit on the other side of the table. "Well then, he wants you bad," Jess says.

"You're crazy," I smile.

"Nah, she's right. Nobody does something like this for nothing," Shanelle says.

_And then it hits me, the thought that he might actually want something from me._

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

Christina and I are in my room minding our own business when Callie goes insane.

She grabs a blue notebook from the night table, "Which one of you read my journal?"

Christina and I exchange glances, and we are both confused.

Christina speaks first, "Are you serious?"

"I know one of you read my journal. So, who was it huh?" She continues to shoot glances at both of us, and we just look at each other in awe. I'm waiting for Christina to confess, but she keeps looking at me.

"Well, I didn't read anything," I say causing Callie to cross her hands over her body and look at Christina.

"Why would I care enough to read your journal? Like seriously, you don't seem like the most intriguing person in the world. No offense," Christina answers.

"One of you two must've read it, because I left it second from the bottom and now its second from the top."

Christina answers, "What the hell? You keep track of the order you stack your notebooks in? You got some serious issues girl."

Callie looks back at me, "It must've been you Mariana. Because I doubt Christina did this."

"I NEVER TOUCHED IT!" I yell defensively. I didn't even know she had a journal in the room, and even if I did I wouldn't have read it. I think that it must've been Christina.

"NO ONE HAS EVEN BEEN IN HERE!" She yelled back.

"I NEVER TOUCHED IT!" I yell back.

Mama comes in and I hope that she is going to yell at Callie, but she yells at both of us instead, "Hey! Enough shouting! What is going on?"

"She read my journal," Callie gestures to me.

"No I didn't."

"Well somebody did," Callie says, as she walks over to the nightstand. She points to stack of books layered on top of it, "I left it right here, second from the bottom, and when I came back it was moved."

"Well it wasn't me," I defend.

"Mariana, tell me the truth," Mama orders, like she didn't believe me.

"I am. I never touched it." _Why won't she believe me? Why is she taking this random kid's side over mine? I'm her daughter!_

Lena turns around to see Christina sitting on the bed watching all of them, "Christina, did you read Callie's journal?"

"Are you for real?" she asked as she stared at Mama for a few seconds. "…I don't even read."

Mama gives her a strange look and turns back toward Callie, "Okay. Callie, is it possible that it wasn't moved, that you just think it was?"

"Why? Because perfect Mariana can never do anything wrong. I think even I've been here long enough to know that's not true."

Christina laughed out loud and we all looked at her, "Sorry."

Callie glances at the door and sees Jude staring at her, "You know what, forget it. Don't even worry about it. You're probably right. It's probably my fault. I just forgot or something. Probably." And we all watch her walk out awkwardly.

I turn back toward Mama, " I can't live with her."

"Well you have to. So figure it out," she replies and storms out.

"Of course she would take her side," I mumble.

"So, did you read it?" Christina asks.

"No, I thought you did."

"Nope… Are you sure?" she asks again as if she doesn't believe me.

"No, I swear I didn't."

"Okay."

"So, you believe me?"

"It shouldn't matter what I believe. If you didn't do it, then you didn't do it."

"But do you think I did it?"

"I don't know you enough to answer that question," she replies as she leaves the room.

"I DIDN'T!" I yell again, hoping that someone would believe me.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_For the purposes of the story, Mariana's quincenera didn't happen (Her moms canceled it after they found out she sold drugs at school, and she refused to admit the real reason why). Also, she has no clue yet about Lexi and Jesus. Talya still read Callie's journal (obviously) and she's still acting like a jealous psycho. Brandon and Callie are still falling for each other etc etc._

* * *

_The Next Day at School_

**Callie's POV**

I was grabbing my Algebra book from my locker, when I saw Talya storming up to me, "Stay away from, Brandon!" she threatens.

I try to defend myself, "I'm not—"

But she interrupts me, "Oh please. I see the way you look at him. Just stay away from him. Or I'll tell him about Liam."

Ever since she said his name before we watched the movie last night, I had a feeling that she was the one to read my journal.

But now I know. "You make a habit of reading people's journals?"

"Just people I don't trust," she smirks at me.

* * *

Christina walks up to us, "Hey Callie. And hey…"

"Talya!" Talya replies angrily.

"Yeah, whatever. I don't really care enough to bother remembering your name," Christina waves her hand in Talya's face shooing her away. Talya gives her a dirty look that Christina ignores and closes my locker. She ushered me away from her. "The hell is wrong with her? She looked like she was about to beat your ass," Christina laughs.

"She read my journal," I admit.

Christina turns me back around, "Then go beat her ass."

I pull her back, so that she couldn't make things worse, "I can't."

"Why not?" she asks in a confused tone.

I don't reply.

"Do you want me to do it?"

"No!" I yell, to stop her from even thinking about it, when I suddenly realized that she really would. I lower my voice, "Please don't do that. That would only make things worse for me and Jude."

We continue walking down the hallway until Christina finally speaks, "But why would she do that? That's really messed up. If I find her touching any of my things, I'll—"

"You won't," I assure her. "She doesn't like me, only me."

"Is it because of Brandon?" My eyes widen at her question. She laughs, "Chillax girl. It's obvious that he has a thing for you. Can you blame her?"

"She has nothing to be worried about."

"That's obviously not what she thinks," she shrugs.

"Well, she's wrong."

"Uh-huh." She looks over my shoulder. "Well, boyfriend number two looks like he wants to talk to you."

"What?" I say as I turn around to see Wyatt smiling and waiting for me with his hands in his pockets. "He's not my boyfriend. And neither is Brandon."

"Well, if that's true then I guess I'm not Christina, and you're not Callie, and I'm not about to leave you standing here by yourself," she says and starts to back away slowly.

I have to laugh. "They're not."

"Deuces," she replies and leaves me standing in the middle of the hallway by myself.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

That girl is in serious denial if she thinks there's nothing going on between her and Brandon. Or her and Wyatt. I don't know why she doesn't just go for it. I mean, this whole living situation is only temporary and she knows it.

As I'm walking to the bathroom, I see Brandon watching Callie and Wyatt talking from afar. The expression on his face makes me want to give him a hug or something.

But I don't hug.

I was about to approach him, when I see Talya's trifling ass run up to him and plant a kiss on his lips as she gives me a dirty look. _Bitch! I don't want him!_ I wanna yell, but I see Lena walking standing down the hallway, and I refrain from causing a scene.

* * *

As I'm about to open the door to the girl's bathroom, I hear Mariana's voice, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TWO WERE SNEAKING AROUND MY BACK!"

I contemplate walking in all the way, for a second, but I really have to go. When I open the door, I see Lexi and Jesus standing up against the wall looking at me. They both looked like they had just gotten done making out.

Mariana has her back turned and didn't even bother to see who was at the door. She continues her rant and looks at Lexi, "YOUR SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!"

Silence.

"AND YOU! YOU CALL YOURSELF MY BROTHER. I SPECIFICALLY ASKED YOU NOT TO DO THIS, AND WHAT DO YOU DO? YOU DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE. You know what? You two deserve each other. I hope you both are happy without me."

Lexi tries to stop her from leaving, "Mariana wait."

"Just leave me alone," she replies and storms out.

I wonder if it'd be too awkward to pee while they're standing there, but I felt bad for Mariana at the same time. I sigh heavily and run after her.

When I finally caught up the girl, she was opening her locker, "Hey, you okay?" I ask. Stupid question, I know. But I was never very good at consoling people.

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

"No. I can't believe that they would do this to me. It's like they did it intentionally just to piss me off… And it worked," I admit.

"Well, if you believe that, then don't let it."

_What the hell is she talking about? _I wonderand give her a confused look.

She reads my mind and rephrases, "If you really think they are doing this to piss you off, then don't let it. Don't give them the satisfaction of letting them know that it got to you. Act like you don't care."

"But I do care. I don't want my brother dating my best friend. It's gross."

The thought makes me want to puke, but I think Lexi and Jesus are still in the bathroom, so it goes away.

Christina continues, "I know you care. But if you think they're doing this to get to you then—"

"If I act like I don't care, they'll stop," I finish for her. "Gotcha," I smile. I'm glad that I actually have someone on my side this time.

Lexi runs up to Christina and me "Mariana, I'm sorry."

I really want to scream my head off at her, but I take Christina's advice, "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to freak out before. I was just surprised is all."

"Really? So you're not mad?"

"No, why would I be mad? I think its great actually," I say and shrug my shoulders, hoping she can't see right through me.

"Are you sure?" she asks. "I don't want this to make you feel uncomfortable. I know it's kinda weird and all—"

"It's not weird. I told you. It's great. But I'm going to be late for class. So, catcha later?"

"I'll walk with you," Lexi offers.

"No. That's okay. I'm already walking with Christina," I say, knowing that it'll make her feel bad.

And that's exactly what I want.

"Oh okay... I'll see you," she finishes and I nod as she walks away awkwardly.

Christina waits until Lexi is no longer in sight, "That was awkkkwarrddd."

"I know. God, I hate her. Why couldn't she just date one of her other best friend's brothers."

"Does she have any more?"

"Good point."

* * *

_3 days later_

**Callie's POV**

Mariana was looking at pictures on my cell, "You know, I never really noticed but, Wyatt's super cute."

I had to laugh a little, "Ya think?"

"He's sexy, like messy sexy."

_Oh God!_ "Okay," I grab the phone from her to keep her from drooling all over it.

"So, what's up with you two anyway?"

Christina walks in during the middle of our conversation. "They're in denial," she mutters under her breath and sits on her bed.

"Shut up!" I yell jokingly and throw my pillow at her.

Mariana continues, "But seriously. Don't most girls with boyfriends consider Saturday date-night?"

"Not my boyfriend."

Christina nods her head yes to Mariana. But I catch her and give her weird look and glance back to Mariana.

"He's not," I try to convince her again.

"Don't waste your time convincing us. You have to convince yourself first," Christina explains.

"What about you and Jasper?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"There's no 'me an Jasper'?"

"I see you two everywhere together," I continue.

"I have to agree with Callie on that one," Mariana says. And I'm surprised she actually agrees with me on something.

"We're friends at most."

"Don't try to convince us. You have to convince yourself fir—"

Christina throws the pillow back at me. "Do not even use my own words against me… And besides, we were talking about you and Wyatt. Why'd you change the subject?"

Mariana continues, "Yeah, shouldn't you two be going out tonight or something? He is your—"

"He's not my boyfriend any more than Jasper is Christina's. And even if he was, he's having a party tonight so—"

Mariana waves her hand in the air to keep me from continuing, "Okay, excuse me? He's having a party tonight and we're sitting here… We have to go!" she says dramatically.

"Party? What kind of party?" Christina says with sudden interest.

"Okay, it's not like you're missing prom or anything," I assure Mariana. "It's just a stupid foreclosure party."

"What the hell is that?" Christina's interest level drops down from a 10 to a 5.

"I don't want to be home, when Lexi and her parents get here. Please…And admit it. You don't want to be stuck in here on a Saturday night either…And you totally like Wyatt."

"Okay fine," I agree. But I'm silently wondering what I'm getting myself into.

Mariana claps her hands, "Yay."

"Yay," Christina repeated flatly. It was obvious she wasn't as interested as Mariana. "One problem?"

"What?" Mariana asks.

"What do we tell your Moms? No offense, but I really don't think they're going to let us go to a party that easily…" Christina says.

Mariana smiles, "You let me worry about that. You should just worry about getting Jasper there."

"I thought you hated him? Something about almost killing a guy and not trusting him?" Christina asks her.

"Yeah, well maybe I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

"What changed?" I ask her. Suddenly, I'm curious.

Marina shrugs her shoulders and keeps talking, "He sort of approached me and asked me if you had a boyfriend."

"He did what?" Christina asks in a surprised voice.

"He asked me if—"

"Yeah, I heard you. That's so… weird."

"Why is it weird? I think it's cute," Mariana smiles.

"Yeah, in a weird way."

"That's mean," I reply.

"He probably won't even come," Christina explains.

"Doubt that."

* * *

**Christina's POV**

As soon as we arrived, I could see that the party appeared more interesting than I thought it would, "This is a foreclosure party?" I ask in disbelief. I was imagining a bunch of old people walking around in expensive suits exchanging business cards.

"Maybe we should go," Callie says with some doubt in her voice.

"Oh, hellz no!" Mariana exclaimed as she started storming into the house with excitement.

Callie grabs her arm to pull her back, "Mariana! Look… if you're going to drink, just have one, and like sip it all night."

"Oh my God, don't worry. You act like I've never been to a party before."

"Hey girl!" Kelsey yells out for her.

"Hey!" Mariana shouts back and walks over to her, leaving Callie and I standing at the doorway.

"Ew, that bitch is here," I say loud enough so that she could hear.

"Be nice!" Callie warns.

"I thought I was," I smile back at her innocently.

She shakes her head and grabs her cell from her pocket. We had to share one, but I let her hold on to it most of time, since she'd start snapping pictures of pretty much anything.

She hands it over to me.

I read the screen: 1 new message from Jasper. I read it out loud, "**Can't make it. Something came up. Explain later. Sorry."**

"Sorry," Callie says.

"About what?" I pretend like I didn't care. But honestly, I didn't get him. One minute, he was asking if I was single and doing crazy things for me. The next, he was blowing me off. He's lucky that he's not standing in front of me right now, because I'd bitch-slap the shit out of him. "Seriously, it's totally cool." I glance around, "From the looks of it, there's a bunch of other boys in here. His loss right?" I smile at her, letting her know that I'd be fine. "Callie, one thing about me: I've never been the type of girl to sulk over some dumb boy, and I'm not about to start now."

"Good to know," she says as Wyatt starts approaching her.

"Talk to you two later. About to scope out the food," I smile and walk toward the kitchen.

* * *

To my dismay, there's hardly any food here. There's pretty much just chips and beer. _Awesome, I think to myself. I'm freaking starving and there's no food. _

_Screw it! Jasper blew me off so I'm going to have a good time without him_. I grab a red cup and walk over to the keg and start filling it.

"Ya know, you're doing that wrong?" a guy's voice asks from behind me.

Just as I was about to turn around and tell him off, I got a good look at him and shut my mouth. I was awed by his muscular body and gorgeous eyes. He was tall with light-ish hair and he looked like he could be on a Calvin Klein billboard.

Before I can say anything he grabs my cup and starts filling it for me. "You have to hold it at an angle and push the lever slowly. This way, you don't get a cup that's half-filled with foam," he smiles at me as he hands the cup back to me.

"I'll have to take that under consideration for next time," I reply as I take a long sip of my beer.

"So, who are you here with?" he asks.

"Some friends," I lie. I don't want to get into that who foster-sibling ordeal. "Whatta bout you?"

"Same… I'm Liam by the way."

"Damn," I say.

"What?" he asks innocently.

"It's just…now that I know your name, it's going to hurt so much more when I never speak to you again."

He makes a straight face and I burst out laughing, "I'm just kidding."

"Oh," he laughs to. "You have a sick sense of humor."

"I get that a lot."

"So are you going to tell me yours?"

"But where's the fun in that?"

"Ouch!"

"It's Christina," I finally say as I realize I had probably taunted him enough. _He was right about the foam thing_, I think as I take a look down at my cup.

"Well, I would normally say nice to meet you, but I'm not so sure this is going to be a nice encounter," he replies.

I finish my beer and grab his, "Me either." I smile and start walking over to the backyard as he follows…


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

"Here! Drink this," Kelsey said while handing me a red plastic cup filled with beer. Now, normally I wouldn't hesitate to say no. I know my Moms would totally kill me if I even touched it. They've given me lecture after lecture about the dangers of drinking and what not. Not to mention, the whole lecture about staying away from Kelsey because she's a bad influence on me, or whatever.

But in all fairness, my moms didn't just find out that their twin brother had been hooking up with their best friend behind their backs. _If this doesn't call for a drink, then I really don't know what does. _

I smile and accept the drink from Kelsey, "So, how was rehab?" _Damn, why did I have to go and mention that? That's nothing close to a casual conversation._ I awkwardly take a sip from my cup. _Callie said to sip one drink all night. At the rate I'm going, there isn't going to be a keg left by then._

"BBOORRIINNGG. Just a bunch of cracked out kids screaming for attention. Not my thing obviously. "

"Yeah, totally," I reply. _But in all honesty, I thought she would actually get something good out of it._

"So… Didn't think I'd run into you here, especially with the juvie girls. But, yay."

"Their names are Callie and Christina. And they're fine."

"Okay? What did I miss?"

"A lot," was all I could get out. I didn't want to get into every detailed thing that happened lately. Especially, with all the rumors that Kelsey had spread about Callie and Christina.

I watch as Kelsey took a really long sip of her drink. "Looks like rehab really did the trick," I joke. "Aren't you supposed to be, ya know? Sober?"

"Hellooo, I went to rehab for pills not beer. And obviously my parent overreacted."

"Obviously," I smile back. I found it intriguing how she didn't think what she was doing to herself wasn't a big deal. But she was one of my friends, and I didn't want to make her feel bad. No matter how often she'd done it to everyone else.

"Cheers!" she says and we clink cups. She finally notices that it's strange that I'm drinking, "I can't believe you're actually choosing to have fun for once. Since when do you drink?" She gives me an unbelieving look.

"Oh, I drink all the time," I answer. But we both know that I'm lying. The only time I can remember drinking is when Jesus handed me Mom's martini glass one day and told me it was water. We were both like 8 years old and didn't know any better. All I can remember was throwing the glass on the floor, spitting out the alcohol, and Jesus laughing hysterically, because he knew what he had done.

"What's up?" Kelsey asks, apparently intrigued by my silent daze.

"What do you mean?"

"Something's definitely up. I can feel it," she says with a smile.

I finally give in. I needed someone to vent to. Christina had been nice to me about the whole situation, but I just think she'd be weirded-out if I sat there and complained about it all. "Well Lexi is seeing Jesus."

Kelsey looked at me as if I had just admitted that I was Hispanic. "Well, duh. That's been around for a while now. He's your own brother and you didn't notice?"

_How could she manage to make me feel like total crap, practically every time that we were together? _

I continue my rant anyways, "She's my best friend. And he's my brother. I can't believe that they would do this to me. Jesus…he had ADHD. He doesn't know any better. But Lexi...I hate her. She's been lying to my face for God knows how long…And now my moms and her parents are sitting at home having dinner, like this is the best thing that's ever happen to them. It's like they're taking their side…God, I hate them all."

"Oh yeah. I totally get why you're pissed at Lexi. And it's crazy that your parents are hanging out. It's kind of gross if you ask me, but…Oh my god. Do you think your moms are telling the Rivera's that they bought Lexi the pill?"

"What?" I ask.

I'm not even sure I heard her right.

"Lexi wanted my help getting the morning after pill… Helloooo, if you need a pill call Kelsey. After she and Jesus had sex. I couldn't help, so I guess they went to your moms."

_Silence._

Now, I know they are definitely on their side. All of this and no one managed to tell me anything. I was completely clueless. It felt like everyone had been laughing at me for God knows how long.

Kelsey continued, "Oh, you didn't know? ….Opps."

I quickly take a large gulp from my plastic cup, wondering why the help everyone around me knew about this relationship between the two people I trusted most, before I did.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

God this guy was hot. Just as hot as Jasper. It was like he was sent to me for a reason. I couldn't explain it.

One second, I'm feeling like total crap for being stood up by some random guy. And the next, this beautiful creature is standing in back of me, talking to me, and then following me outside.

_Um…Jasper who?_

"So, Christina," Liam starts.

"Yes?" I ask as I take another sip of my drink. I'm not trying to get drunk, but I can't help but feel nervous around him, and I'm not exactly sure why. I've never had a problem being around boys before… Besides Vico.

"What school do you go to?"

"Anchor Beach... For now anyways."

"So, you're moving?"

"Not exactly," I tilt my head to the side. There's no way I can explain my situation to some random kid I just met. Talking about it always made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn't entirely sure why.

"Then, what?" he smiles, as we both took seats on a nearby bench outside of Wyatt's house.

"It's complicated," I say, wanting desperately to change the subject.

"What do you mean? Planning on getting expelled anytime soon?" he laughs.

"No."

"Arrested?"

I have to laugh this time, "You have no idea how possible that is, my friend… So, what about you?"

"Oh, don't try to change the subject. You have my full attention now," he says as he takes a full swig of his beer. He ends up grabbing another on his way out of the house.

"What do you mean? You like girls with bad-reps?" I ask.

"No. I like knowing what I'm getting myself into," he smiles at me again.

I can't help but be fascinated by his smile. His teeth are perfectly straight, his dimples are showing, and his eyes are gleaming. But in all honesty, I'm still confused by his question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'd like to see you again."

"You'd like to see me again?" I question. "You mean, I haven't scared you off with the whole 'I might get arrested by tomorrow" thing I have going on," I ask confused.

"Oh, it takes a lot to scare me off. Trust me."

I nod, "Trust you?"

"Yes."

"Why?" I ask. _I don't trust anyone in the world. What would make him think that he was so special?_

"Because I'm asking you to," he answers as he flashes me that million-dollar smile.

"That's a good enough reason…" I say sarcastically.

"Look. I really like you. You're different than most of the girls, that I've met here, and I just want to get to know you a little bit more."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," he tries to assure me.

I start to stand up, "You know what. My cup is almost empty. I'm just going to get another refill, since I can't take yours again." I smile. "You've actually managed to finish that one." I finish, thinking back to the other drink that I'd stolen from him less than fifteen minutes ago.

"I'll get it," he says standing up and grabbing the cup from my hand. "Just sit down and try to relax. I'll be right back."

"Trust you?" I say again, and he laughs.

"Yes, trust me."

I nod and sit back down, "We'll see about that," I finish and he shakes his head and leaves.

* * *

**Callie's POV**

_Great! This is just great! Mariana's drunk, locked herself in the bathroom, and Wyatt just had a complete meltdown._

We have to get home soon, and I have no clue where Christina went. _This party is going just as I thought it would. DISASTROUS!_

While I'm waiting for Mariana to finally come out of the bathroom, I start to walk downstairs and take out my cell-phone. Lately, I've been taking pictures of so many scenes, but this one seemed perfect. I start to snap a few shots, and suddenly notice Liam in my iPhone's screen, "Hey, Callie."

_This can't be real. This monster can't really be standing in front of me. He can't really be talking to me right now. I keep staring at the screen because I'm afraid to check if he's really there. _"Liam?" I say, while lowering my cell-phone, and trying to figure out why he would be here of all places.

_I don't stay upstairs. _

_That's how he got me the last time. _

I start to jog down, before he could corner me, like he had done before. I make sure not to look at his piercing eyes even though I can feel them staring at me.

He blocks me from going all the way down, and I couldn't move, "Saw your shots on instagram. Pretty good with that thing."

_Is that how he found me?_ I wonder. But I don't think about it too much. The most important thing right now is getting away from him. In order to do that, I'd have to pretend he wasn't there.

"What do you want?" I finally voice out. But I wasn't so sure I wanted to know.

"I heard you were asking questions about me, so…figured I'd save you some time, and catch up face-to-face," he looks me up and down and smiles. "You look great. Can't believe how much you've grown in two years."

"Look, when Sara said she was staying with you're family, I was just curious. That's all."

"So you miss me?" he asks while grabbing my hand.

I instantly pull it away. "I gotta go," I say and start to walk back down the stairs again.

But he pulls my wrist to keep me from running, "HEY! I'm talking to you."

"Let go of me," I say.

"I'm going to say this once. Stop asking questions, and stay the hell away from Sara. Got me?" he says as he finally releases his grip on my wrist.

"Hey!" Wyatt says as he steps in between of both of us. "Is everything okay here?"

"Yeah. Everything's great. Just catching up with an old friend," Liam says as he places his hand on Wyatt's shoulder, to show that he means no harm. He starts to walk back upstairs, "See you around, Cal."

"We gotta go," I tell Wyatt and Mariana, who had finally managed to make it out of the bathroom and down the stairs.

"Where's Christina? You're rushing me but what about her?" she asks with an annoyed voice. "How about you come and get me when you find her, ok?" she says as she starts walking up the stairs to where Liam is.

"No," I say gently, even though I felt myself wanting to scream it. "You can help me find her." There was no way I would let Mariana go anywhere near him.

She nods her head with acceptance and helps me look for her.

Fifteen minutes later we finally find Christina outside, sitting on a bench.

"Come on. Let's go home," I tell her.

She finally looks me over and then at Mariana. "Damn, girl. How much did you have to drink?" she smiles, and I can tell that she's drunk by the redness in her eyes.

"I'm not drunkkk," Mariana says, and neither of us believe her. I'm just hoping that I can get her to her bedroom without anyone noticing.

"You are so drunk," Christina says laughing uncontrollably.

"Great. That's just great. You're drunk too," I say to her.

She gives me a protesting look, "What are you talking about? I'm totally soberrrr." She stands up and starts walking toward us, "So sober that I can walk in a straight line on one leg, so sober that I can pat my head and rub my belly at the same time, so sober that—"

"Okay. That's enough," I say as I grab her before she tries to stand on one leg on the bench she was now standing on. "Wyatt's going to walk us home, so we should go."

Christina gives me an angry look, "So why do we have to leave? That's your boyfriend. Let him walk you home. Me and Mariana stay here."

"And what am I supposed to say when I get to her house? That the movie ended, but you and their daughter decided to stay behind for no good reason?" I question.

"Oooooh, good point," Mariana buds in.

Christina breathes in deeply, "Okay. Just let me say goodbye to someone first."

Just as I'm about to protest, she prances off quickly leaving me to deal with a very drunk Mariana by myself.

"Are you sure we have to leave? I was kinda having fun," she smiles at me.

"You're kind of fun, is going to get me in a bunch of trouble if we're not careful."

"Oh, RELAX mom! Lighten up, will you? By the time we get home, I'll be totally fine…Not that I'm not already, but you know what I mean."

* * *

**Stef's POV**

The dinner with the Rivera's had taken a toll for the worst. All I wanted was to gain a little insight as to what the Jesus Camp was about, so that Lena and I could respectfully shut it down.

But nothing was going as planned.

The Rivera's were being extremely nice and respectful.

The camp sounded like everything I hadn't expected it to.

My dad showed up unexpectedly and made me feel like crap for my life choices.

That was a delight. As usual.

And all I wanted was to call it a day, and not receive any more bad news.

Just as I thought the dinner was finally coming to an end, I hear someone stubble on the stairs and hear Christina and Mariana laughing.

"Girls, is that you?" Lena asks.

"Yeah," we hear one of them responds.

"Come on in and say hello to the Rivera's."

"Coming," Callie says.

_More laughing_.

Once they finally show up I can tell that something is up. All three of them are standing extremely closer together than usual. Mariana is smiling too much and Christina is staring at everywhere besides our faces, as if she was afraid we'd catch her lying or something.

"Hi Mari, so nice to see you," Sonia says.

"Callie, Christina, this is Sonia and Ernie," Lena introduces.

"Hello," Callie responds. Christina just waves at them quickly and unenergetically and puts her hand down quickly.

"Nice to meet you," Ernie says while smiling.

"You too," Callie responds. Christina nods her head and I catch her rolling her eyes.

"Uh, we were just going to bed," Callie says and now I know something's up. But I don't want to ask them about it while there's company. Just as I'm about to ask them, how the movie was, Sonia beats me to it.

"No, no, Mari. It's been too long. Come join us."

Christina looks at Mariana and chuckles, but then tries to hide it with a cough as if we wouldn't notice. Callie glances at Christina and gives her a stern look. Christina straightens up and they all step forward.

"Wow, Mariana. Your nose."

"You like it?" Mariana asks and she stumbles on nothing.

That's when I know that my daughter is drunk. I quickly put my cup of coffee on the table and start to stand up. And I'm resisting the urge to yell at her right here because we were in front of company. The fastest solution I could think of is to get rid of them, "Yeah. I think it's time we call it a night. What do you say?"

"Yeah, mommy. I'm tired," Lexi tries to help because she also notices that Mariana is drunk.

To bad her parents don't... "Mari! Jesus is going to join us at the church retreat next weekend. Why don't you come too?" Sonia asks her.

Mariana looks at me and then at Lena, "What? You're going to let them spend the night together, when you know they're having sex?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

* * *

_Two weeks later_

**Callie's POV**

I woke up this morning, feeling strangely relaxed, considering everything that has been going on.

Liam showed up at my school to threaten me a second time.

I finally told Stef and Lena about him a few nights ago, in order to keep Sarah from going through what I had to.

I knew that Liam would be outraged when he found out I said something, but part of me didn't care.

Of course, I was still worried, but just knowing that I had people on my side that believed me was enough to make me feel better. Stef said that they would do everything they could to make sure that Sarah got taken out of Olmstead's house and for some odd reason, I believed her.

The second I started to get out of bed, Mariana bursts into the room and begins shaking Christina awake. Christina opens one eye and glances up at her with an angry expression, which causes Mariana to let go of her and back away, with a little bit of fear, "Sorry. I forgot that you're cranky in the morning." She plants a smile on her face anyway, "But guess what today is?"

Christina pulls her comforter over her head and doesn't respond for a few seconds, which causes Mariana to walk back toward the door. "What?" Christina finally asks, and Mariana turns around with a smile again.

"It's Freedom Day."

Christina removes the comforter from her face and looks at Mariana and I with a flattened expression. "Excuse me?"

Mariana rolls her eyes, "It's been two weeks. You and I are no longer grounded. Which means—"

"We're free?" Christina says flatly. It was obvious that she wasn't as happy about this as Mariana was. In fact, I don't even think Christina really minded being grounded at all. Considering the other foster-houses that she has probably been in, being grounded seemed almost like a reward to her.

But Mariana doesn't catch her lack of interest and just nods her head, "Uhuh. Aren't you excited? We're no longer condemned to school and this house. We can do whatever we want…well, obviously not whatever we want, but you know what I mean."

"I don't really think I should've been grounded in the first place, being that this isn't my house and I've been drinking since I was like five, but I guess you're right."

"Five? Oh my God," Mariana mumbled but quickly changed the subject to something more exciting. "So, are you going to go out with that new guy that you're talking to? I saw the text he sent to my phone with the picture. Can you say "hottie?"

"Who? What happened to Jasper?" I ask. "I just saw you talking with him yesterday during lunch."

"Jasper's just a friend. And I'm not even sure he's that much, to be honest. And besides, I met this other guy, who's actually pretty cool."

"What guy?" I ask.

Mariana chimes in, "Wait. Is this the same guy you met at Wyatt's party that you were telling me about?"

Christina smiles, "Maybe."

I can't help but feel nervous. _The hot guy at Wyatt's party?_ I swallow hard before I ask, "What's his name?"

* * *

**Christina's POV**

"I doubt you know him. He's kind of older," I answer Callie.

"How much older?" Mariana asks denoting a little bit of concern in her voice. "Moms would totally flip if he was old-old."

"Why? They're not my moms," I answer, and soon after I realize how wrong my comment sounded_. I'm always sticking_ _my foot in my mouth. I've got to learn to shut up, when I have nothing nice to say._ "Sorry," I tell her. Even though I still don't think they have any reason to get mad. "But he's not old-old, as you say. Maybe 18 or 19. I didn't really have time to ask him." I turn to face Callie, "Because someone made us leave the party early, when it was just getting good," I say accusingly but jokingly as well.

Mariana laughs, "That's still kinda old. What's his name?"

"Liam," I respond and I notice Callie's mouth open wide and by the pale look on her face, I can tell that the name bothered her. "What? Do you know him?"

She doesn't answer as she glances down at the floor.

"Is that a yes or no?" Mariana asks and gently slaps Callie's arm, in order to get her to respond.

Callie finally says something, "Um… yeah, I know him….And he's not 18."

"He's not? Wait, how do you know him?" I ask.

"How old is he?" Mariana questions.

"He's 21 and…he used to be my foster-brother."

"Whoa, seriously?" Mariana looks from Callie to me.

"Really? I didn't know that. How strange? What's he like?" I ask with sudden interest.

During my chat with him, we mostly only talked about me. And now I realize how rude I must've been, to not ask him about his own life. But in my defense, our chat didn't last very long.

She takes a while to respond, "…I don't think you should go out with him."

"Why not? Do you have something against him or something?"

"He's just not a nice guy…I mean, he seems nice at first, but he changes."

She stops talking.

_What? Does she expect me to just listen to her without a good explanation?_

_What the hell is she talking about anyway?_ I wonder.

"He changes? How does he change?" I ask her.

"Um…it's complicated."

I look over and Mariana and we both have the same confused look on our faces.

"Wanna elaborate a little more?" Mariana asks her.

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

We all turn our heads to the door when we hear a soft knock. Mom comes in, "Hey, Callie. Lena and I have something we'd like to discuss with you. Can you come downstairs please?"

"Yeah, sure." Callie practically leaps out of her seat on the bed and follows my mom.

As soon as Callie is out of earshot, Christina turns to look at me, "Liam seems like a decent guy. Do you think she's exaggerating a bit?"

"I don't know. Maybe? But then again we didn't live with them," I remind her.

"Yeah, you're right I guess. How long ago do you think that was? People change ya know?"

"Not that much," I mutter, as I suddenly think of Ana and the night that she practically pried the money out of my hands after she said she wanted to see me. She was still the same selfish drug addict she had been ten years ago.

"What do you think that's about?" Christina asks as she points to the door that Callie and my mom walked out of.

"I have no idea. Wanna go find out?" I ask her.

We slowly walk down the stairs, in an effort to make as little commotion as possible. As soon as we get all the way down, we hear a man's voice, "So, here's the truth. There's no way this case is ever getting in front of a jury. The judge is going to throw it out, as sure as I'm sitting here. There's no direct evidence. It's been, what, almost two years since it happened? And it's just you…And with your record, everything in your file. I mean, I told you when we first arrested him, that this was a long shot. It's not fair. I'm sorry…On the other hand, if the sex with Liam had been consensual that would be a different story."

"But it wasn't. It was not," Mom interrupted.

"If it was consensual, well, based on your age difference, that would be statutory rape. And Liam might just go to jail for up to a year."

"So, you're saying that nobody will believe that he forced me to have sex, but they might believe that I did it cause I wanted to? And that Liam would go to jail for that?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

* * *

Christina and I both stare at each other in shock, until she starts to walk away from the kitchen and waves me over. We quickly and quietly make our way back up the stairs.

"What do we do?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"We have to do something. I feel like crap now. I just called her rapist a decent guy. What the hell is wrong with me?" she hits herself on the head with her hand.

"You didn't know. And she didn't tell us either."

"It doesn't matter. We have to do something. Liam's going to get away with what he did to her," she says angrily.

"Maybe not."

"Are you kidding me, Mariana? Did you not just hear what that dude said. The case is going to get thrown out."

We both stay silent for a while, but I honestly don't see what we could possibly do to fix this.

"…Unless," Christina starts.

"Unless what?" I ask and I'm suddenly afraid of whatever it is she's thinking of.

"That guy said that they needed direct evidence, right?"

I squint my eyes at her, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we get direct evidence."

"It's a little bit late for that."

She grabs my arm and pulls me toward my bedroom and closes the door, "Duh. I'm talking about new evidence."

"What are you getting at?" I ask her.

She gives me a straight face, "Okay, so I'm thinking…"

"Uhuh," I wait for her to fill me in, and I already hate the idea.

"We set him up."

"Come again?"

"Oh come on, all we need to do is record him. It'll be really easy. I can seduce him or something and then, I'll tell him that I changed my mind. That should get him pissed off enough to do something stupid. And we can tape the whole thing," she says really fast.

I take a few seconds to process what she's telling me, "I don't know. It sounds dangerous. And we just got un-grounded. Need I remind you? "

"It won't be. You'll be there. And maybe Jasper can come, and I know a few other people."

"And Callie?"

"No, definitely not Callie. She'll try to stop us or something. That would completely ruin everything. Come on… please?"

I contemplate her plan for a few seconds longer than she expected.

"I'm doing it with or without you," she says as she crosses her arms over her body.

"Fine," I agree. "But we have to be smart about all of this. If something goes wrong—"

"It won't," she tries to assure me.

But deep down, I can't help but get a bad feeling about all of this.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

I know that Christina means well, but I just can't help but feel like shit is about to hit the fan. Some part of me wants me to run downstairs, tell my moms the crazy-ass plan that Christina is cooking up, so that they can put a stop to all of it before something really bad happens.

And a whole other part of me thinks that Callie deserves some justice too. I know that her and I have only known each other for a short time and we've barely bonded over anything. But I couldn't help but want to help put the bastard in jail that raped her.

Callie comes upstairs, sits down on her bed, and grabs her algebra textbook and begins flipping through it. Christina fake-coughs, and I know that's my signal to speak.

"I want to get out of this house," I start awkwardly. "…We should go shopping or something. Callie, do you want to go?"

"Um…not today. I'm just not really in the mood… Thanks for the invitation though."

I nod my head. _Our plan is working_. "What about you Christina?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not, right?"

Callie lifts her head up from her homework and looks at Christina, "I thought you were going out with Liam?"

"Yeah, I changed my mind. Mariana reminded me that her mom's a cop again. Don't want to get the poor guy arrested for dating a minor," she says.

I lift my head up. "Wait, can he get arrested?" I ask curiously.

Christina scratches her head, "I don't know. Maybe?"

"I thought he could only get arrested, if he had sex with a minor?"

Callie looks down, and Christina gives me a 'What are you doing?' look.

I take it back, "You know what? It doesn't even matter. Moms would definitely not be happy about it… And I want to get out of this house so can we?"

We both say bye to Callie and leave the room, closing the door behind us. When I turn around to look at Christina, I find her glaring at me with disapproval.

"Sorry, it just slipped out."

She shakes her head, "Whatever. Now, what are we going to tell your moms?"

"Just follow my lead," I say.

"Yeah, because that's going so well," she mumbles.

* * *

**Lena's POV**

Stef and I were lying on the hammock and drinking iced-tea in the backyard, when we saw Mariana and Christina walking over. We both glance at each other with skepticism unsure of where this is going to go.

"Hey," Mariana says with the innocent looking smile, that Stef and I can already see right passed, but we don't let her know it yet.

"Hey girls. What's up?" I ask as I take a sip of my iced-tea.

"Well, Christina and I were wondering if—"

"No," Stef interrupts.

I have to laugh at her complete resistance.

Mariana sighs deeply and drops her shoulders in defeat. "But you didn't even hear what we had to say," she complains.

"What is it, honey?" I ask her, so that she doesn't feel so rejected.

She smiles again, "Okay, well we were wondering if we could go to the mall, since we're un-grounded and all."

Stef and I exchange confused glances and then look back at the girls. "Together?" I ask.

"No, I was going to ditch her, the moment I got there," Mariana states sarcastically.

"Just the mall?" Stef asks.

"Yes, and maybe later we might go to the movies."

"That sounds like a good idea. Did you two invite Callie?" Stef asks.

"Yes, we invited Callie, but she said no."

"And you'll both be back before curfew?" she continues the interrogation.

"Totally."

"And what about you, Christina?"

"What?" Christina asks in confusion.

"No more crazy ideas right?" Stef leans her head down and glares at the girl in an attempt to give her an intimidating look.

But Christina doesn't catch on and looks at her strangely, "Nope, we'll be here by curfew."

"Okay," I agree skeptically.

Technically, they weren't grounded anymore, and they shouldn't be treated as if they were, when they weren't. If we were to do that, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference and act out. "I can give you a ride in a few minutes, okay?"

"Kay, Mama. You're the best," Mariana says as she kisses my cheek and begins to walk away.

"Hey, what about me?" Stef whines.

Mariana sighs and gives in as she walks over and kisses Stef too, "There, happy?" she asks in a flat tone.

"Ecstatic," Stef answers sarcastically as we watch the girl's walk away.

"Good thinking. Taking them to the mall so we know that they're really going there," Stef smiles and gives me a peck on the lips.

"I was trying to save them bus money," I try to reason.

"Yeah, right," Stef laughs, and looks up at me once she sees that I'm not laughing with her. "What's wrong?"

"Did you have to threaten the poor girl like that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?" she says innocently as she takes another sip of her iced-tea.

I give her a disbelieving look, which makes her feel guilty.

"Look, she's been getting herself in a lot of trouble lately. She needs some serious structure in her life."

"She's not a bad kid," I try to reason with her.

"I know that, but she keeps putting herself in bad situations. She's too impulsive…I don't know. I'm just trying to steer her in the right direction I guess," she answers as she plays with the handle on her mug.

"Stef?"

"Yeah?" she looks up at me.

"You know we can't keep them, right?"

"I know that Lena. I just want to make sure they don't get hurt while they're here. It is our job as foster-parents, right?"

I sigh, "Yes, I guess… So, what are we going to do about Callie? If things don't go well at the trial tomorrow, she might get hurt anyway."

"What do you think she's going to do about that?"

"I don't know? She didn't seem too comfortable about lying in a court room."

"She's not lying. He is," Stef's voice rises a little, and I don't blame her for getting upset. I secretly wanted Callie to lie too, just so Liam would go to jail.

"Well, either way. There's a chance she might not get the justice she deserves. Do you think she's ready for that?" I ask.

"I don't even think I am," she lets out a long breath and closes her eyes and lays back down in the hammock.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

**Christina's POV**

Luckily, Jasper was able to pick Mariana and I both up from the mall and let us borrow his house for the deed.

When we arrive, I don't see any one there, and the place is surprisingly really neat, not to mention humongous. I didn't peg him for a rich boy, considering the kick-back clothes he wore, so you could imagine my confusion. But suddenly, I got the feeling that this plan was going to work anymore, "You could've mentioned the fact that you live in a mansion, Jasper. We wanted this to look somewhat believable," I tell him.

"Yeah, your house is really big," Mariana agrees as she eyes the ridiculously huge chandelier on the ceiling.

"Not a mansion," Jasper corrects. "And it's my parents' place."

"Okay, whatever. It's too late now. So, you're sure no one is going to show up out of nowhere right?" I ask him.

"Yeah. You know… this is a lot of trouble to go through for just a friend," he says skeptically.

"Not too much trouble for me. Where's your bedroom?"

"Christina, if you wanted to take me to bed, all you had to do was ask," he jokes and I have to laugh.

"Ew," Mariana says in a disgusted voice and makes the face to go along with it.

We both laugh at her, as he walks us over to his bedroom and opens the door.

"Good lighting," I complement. "There shouldn't be any complaint about the camera not getting his face perfectly.

"You watch too many crime scene shows," he says.

"Thanks… Now, where's the video recorder?" I ask. _This had to be perfect, so that meant I had keep myself focused._

"Right here," Jasper answers as he walks over to his dresser and pulls it out of the top drawer. "It's already set to start recording. The tape will record up to 6 hours."

I glance around the room as I try to figure out where to hide it. After testing a few different places, I finally the perfect spot, in between two picture frames and aiming towards the bed. It was close enough for the camera to pick up perfect picture and sound, but far enough so that Liam wouldn't notice it.

_Hopefully._

"So, where is everybody else?" Mariana asks, but her cell-phone starts ringing and she widens her eyes. "Oh my God! Is it him?" she asks nervously as she hands it over to me.

"Hello?" I answer as I give her an are-you-serious look. I couldn't understand why she was being so paranoid about this. "Yeah, I'll be right there." I look back at Mariana, "It's everybody else," I say as I go downstairs and answer the door.

* * *

Shanelle and Jessica both step in.

"THE PARTY IS HERE!" Shanelle yells as she dances her way inside with a giant bottle of Bacardi.

I sigh, "We can't drink today, loca. We're trying to gather evidence."

"Uhuh," Jess says unconvincingly, "Where's your kitchen?" she asks as she starts gallivanting around the house with Shanelle following her.

I look over to Mariana and Jasper, who have the most fearful looks on their faces "They're okay. They're just a little nervous. Everything will be fine," I try to assure them as I walk toward the kitchen and they trail behind me.

I finally spot them, and Shanelle is raiding the fridge while Jess is taking small glasses out of the cabinets. "One drink. That's it," I say sternly.

Jess lets out a frustrated breath. "…That's fine," she says as she puts the small glasses back inside of the cabinet and pulls out larger ones. "One drink it is," she smiles.

"O.M.G." Mariana says flatly.

Shanelle turns to look at us with brownie in her mouth. She takes it out and chews it quickly, "Jasper!" she yells excitedly. "Christina, you didn't tell us Jasper was going to be here?" she says as she runs over and gives him a hug. "You're my favorite one of Christina's boyfriends."

"He's not my boyfriend," I try to assure them.

Jess walks over and hands us all tall glasses mixed with orange juice and Bacardi, "That's right. We're trying to set your boyfriend up for murder."

I take the glass from her, "Not for murder, Jess. For rape."

"Then, why'd you tell me to bring a gun?" Shanelle asks as she takes it out of her purse and accidently points it to us.

Mariana and Jasper both gasp in shock and put their hands in front of their bodies defensively. I smile and walk over to grab the gun from Shanelle.

"Let's not point that at everyone, okay?"

"Oh relax. The friggin' safety lock is on," she says as she takes the drink from Jess and continues to eat her brownie.

I look over to Jasper and Mariana, who are still staring at me holding the gun.

"Oh, this," I pause awkwardly. "…The gun is only a precaution," I try to reason. "Just incase things get out of hand or something. Don't worry. No one is going to shoot anyone. Here, I'll even take out the bullets," I say as I remove the clip and remove all of the bullets and then remove the one in the chamber. I hand it over to Jasper, "Here, threaten him with this if he doesn't leave voluntarily."

"You want me to point a gun at his face?" he asks in surprise.

"An empty gun," Jess reminds him.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Shanelle asks as she licks the chocolate off of her fingers and takes a big gulp of her drink.

"The big deal is that I can get arrested!" Jasper complains.

"You won't," I tell him.

Mariana's phone starts to ring and she glances up at me with fear in her eyes.

"Quiet," I tell them, as I get ready to answer the phone. "Hello…You're outside? Okay I'll be right there."

I hang up. "You guys have to hide now."

Immediately, everyone starts to run upstairs and hide in the bathroom connected to Jasper's bedroom. Before I close the door, I look at all of them, "Okay, if you hear me scream or something, do not come out! I want the camera to catch as much crap as this guy can dish out."

"So, how do we know you need help?" Mariana asks worriedly.

"I'll yell help," I say nonchalantly. "Whatever you do, do not come out unless you hear that word, okay."

They all nod.

"Be careful," Mariana warns, and I can tell she's scared for me.

"Relax, I'll be fine. This is nothing to me," I say.

I close the door to the bathroom and quickly check the camera to make sure that it's recording. It is so I run downstairs and grab the glasses and throw them in the sink.

I check my reflection in the mirror one last time, and conclude I look presentable.

The doorbell rings and I try to remain calm and collective as I open the door, "Hey Liam. I'm so glad you can make it…"


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

* * *

**Christina's POV**

The doorbell rings. I try to remain calm and collective as I open the door, "Hey Liam. I'm so glad you can make it."

He greets me with a warm smile, "I'm glad you called me back. I was beginning to think you really weren't ever going to talk to me again," he chuckles.

I laugh too, "You were almost right about that," I joke. "Oh, I'm just kidding. Come in, come in," I say awkwardly, as I realize that I left him standing in the doorway for far too long.

"Thanks…" he responds as he takes a few steps inside, "So, this is your place?"

"No, this is my Dad's place. My brother lives here, and I live with my mom. We sort of switched for a couple of months," I smile shyly.

"Is he here?" he asks as he glances around the house.

"Nope. It's just me. He travels a lot for work, and he's in Texas right now."

"Really?" he responds with sudden interest. "…So what do you wanna do? I brought some movies that we could watch," he says as he hands me a bag.

"I've been grounded for 2 weeks. Do you really think I wanna watch a movie?" I say as I take off my cardigan and toss both the bag and my sweater onto the kitchen counter.

He doesn't move.

"…Or if you want, you can watch the movie in the living room, and I'll just be upstairs," I say as I start to climb them slowly. "Alone… But you know, if you think you'd probably have more fun glaring at a TV screen, then by all means. I don't want to stop you," I say as I reach the top of the stairs and remove my hair tie and ruffle up my hair a bit, knowing that he'd give in if he wasn't gay.

"No…" he coughs nervously. "We can always watch the movie later he says as he removes his leather jacket and throws it onto the counter on top of my sweater.

I walk over to the bedroom and wait for him by the doorway, trying to look as seductively as possible. "That was simple," I smile as I wait for him to walk over toward me.

* * *

"I was right," he says as he places his hand on the small of my back and pulls me closer to him.

"About what?" I smile.

"You are different," he says as he presses his lips hard against mines. I kiss him back for a few seconds, only to back away to gasp for air. "You're not to bad yourself," I say as I pull him forward, so that we're both in the camera's view.

"You are so hot," he says as he runs a finger down my neck and cups my ass with his hand, which surprises me. But I try to stay focused. _You can't back out now_. "Does your daddy know what you do, when he's not here?" he jokes as he runs his fingers over my stomach before lying me down on the bed and falling on top of me.

"Not at all," I smile as I kiss him to get him to stop talking. That's when I realize that our plan is working. I can feel him go hard down there, and now I know it's the perfect time. I turn my head toward the digital clock on the nightstand, "Oh crap!"

"What?" he says as he starts to unzip his pants.

"Today's Saturday?" I ask in confusion.

"Yes, beautiful," he says as he takes off both of his shirts, pulls in closer, and begins to nibble my neck.

"I have to go to my friend's birthday party. I completely forgot," I whine.

"Who cares? Don't go," he says as runs his lips back onto mines and tries to unzip my jeans, which automatically makes me flinch. But I try to brush it off.

I move my face to the side, "I can't miss it. I have to go."

"No, you don't," he whispers as he starts to unbutton my shirt.

"Look, I'm really sorry. But she's one of my best friends. If it was anyone else, I'd drop it in a heartbeat."

"You can go later," he counter argues as he finishes unbuttoning my shirt and starts kissing my stomach.

I start to get up, "I can't Liam. I really have to go, I'm so sorry. Rain check?"

He grabs my arm and pulls me back down, "You can go later!" he yells angrily and I can see a flash of rage pass through his eyes. His clenched lips scare me even more, because he looks as if he's about to lose it at any second. And for some reason, I completely freeze and he begins to forcibly remove my jeans.

But his fingers on my underwear bring me back into reality. "Stop!" I yell as I try to kick him but he pushes my legs away and throws my jeans on the floor. "This isn't funny!"

"You're the one treating it like a joke!" he snaps. "You can't just bring me here and do all of this, and think you can just leave! Who the hell do you think you are? If you're brave enough to start something, you better be brave enough to finish it!" he yells as he lets go of my arms, to pull down his pants. I take this as my opportunity to try to make a run for it. But I barely leave the bed, before he pulls me by my hair and throws me back onto it, "Where the hell do you think you're going!"

I scream loudly, mostly to get everything on camera.

But in part, because he was actually hurting me.

_It's for a good cause,_ I reason.

"Shut the fuck up you little bitch!" he says as he punches me in the face and presses his arm against my neck so that I would both shut up and he could keep me still. I start choking and try to yell for help, but I couldn't get the words out loud enough. _Why hadn't I thought of this as a possibility before? How could I yell for help if I couldn't talk?_ "You asked for it so don't cry now! If you behave, it'll be over before you know it!"

That's when I realized that I had in fact been crying because I couldn't breathe.

* * *

Suddenly, I hear the bathroom door open and see Shanelle run over to grab the camera and pause it.

I glance up and see Jasper holding the gun to Liam's head, "GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER BEFORE I BLOW YOUR FUCKING BRAINS OUT!"

Liam quickly lifts his arm up away from my neck and lifts his hands in the air. I'm finally able to gasp for air and I quickly get out from under him.

Jess runs over to me, "Are you okay?"

I keep coughing until I'm finally able to respond, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Why didn't you call for help?" Mariana asked angrily.

"I tried to," I say, confused as to why she would be so mad with me right now. That was the last thing I needed.

"I meant before, when he first started hurting you. You should have said it before!"

We both turn toward Jasper who was still holding the gun to Liam's head, "GET YOUR SHIT AND GET THE HELL OUT!"

Liam moved quickly and he grabbed all of his clothes from the ground nervously.

"HURRY UP!" Jasper yelled, as we all watched Liam run out of the house half-naked.

Jasper calmed down the moment he watched Liam leave and walked over to me. He moved my face so that he can see my neck and the side of my jaw, which were both a little red, "Are you okay?" He glanced down at me and I realized I was still in my bra and underwear.

I immediately run over to the side of the bed to grab my jeans and shirt. "I'm fine. We got what we came for. It's all good," I say.

I'm not sure that they believe me, but can I blame them?

I'm not even sure I believe myself.

To be continued...


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

* * *

_Same Night_

**Mariana's POV**

Mama calls me just as Jasper is pulling in front of the mall, to tell me that she'd be here in 5 minutes. I'm so relieved that we made it back on time, but then I realize that it was all for nothing.

We are going to have to tell her the truth anyways. _How else are we going to get the tape permitted as evidence for the trial? We couldn't go around my moms even though it's all I really wanted right now. I wish we had thought about this before we went through with it, because it would've surely changed my mind._

"Thank you, Jasper," I say as I open his car door, step out, and wait for Christina to come out.

"No problem, Mariana," he says casually.

But I know that he was definitely scared tonight. He broke the law for Christina, and that just proves to me how wrong I was about him before. Yes, he broke the law but with good intentions, so he was actually pretty okay in my book.

Christina opens the door but it seems as if Jasper grabs her attention, because she doesn't get out of the car right away. I'm not sure what was said, but I stand there uncomfortably for the next couple of minutes until I hear her say good-bye. She gets out of the car, closes the door, and watches him drive off slowly.

As soon as he's nowhere in sight, I give Christina a piece of my mind, "What the hell was that?"

She sighs, as if nothing has happened, "What?"

"That was the worst plan in the history of plans! We probably could have all gotten arrested or something. You risked Jasper's safety too, and definitely Liam's."

"What are you talking about? The plan worked."

"Yeah, and look at your face," I say as I gesture the bruise on her cheek. It hadn't darkened yet, but it was definitely going to by the morning.

"I'm fine, Mariana. It didn't even hurt. Why are you being such a drama queen?"

"Maybe because my night involved guns, alcohol, a rapist, and your crazy-ass friends."

"Okay. First of all, it was one gun and the gun was empty. Second of all, I didn't know that they were going to bring alcohol and they're not that crazy. Third of all, you knew exactly what we were going to do tonight, so I don't understand what's the confusion. You knew we were going to see Liam, and now you're acting as if you really thought we were just going to watch a movie or something. Get over yourself, Mariana. You aren't exactly innocent here either."

"We were just supposed to help Callie! That's what I agreed to!" I snap.

"And we did! What are you so afraid of?" She laughs, "…Wait a second. Is this about your moms finding out? Look, if you want me to leave your name out of it, that's not a problem. Technically, you didn't really do anything anyway, so they don't have to know that you were even there. You can even tell them, that I ditched you at the mall if you want. I really don't care, but stop your whining, seriously…"

"Whining? And no, this isn't about them finding out. This is about—" I have to stop talking when I see Mama's car pulling up.

Christina tries to pull her hair over her face to hide the bruise, which causes me to roll my eyes. _They're going to see it eventually._

* * *

As soon as Mama pulls in front of us, I open the passenger-side door before she's able to fully stop and get in, slamming the car door behind me. Christina gets in the backseat and slams the door too.

Mama moves her gaze from me, to her, and then back to me. It's obvious that she knows that something is up. "What's going on?" she asks sternly.

"Nothing," we both answer at the same time angrily, which just makes us both look like liars.

"It doesn't seem like nothing," she pushes as she keeps her gaze on us.

We both stay silent.

She sighs, "Okay, then…" she says as gives up and drives away.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

When we reach the front door of the house, Lena opens it and starts walking upstairs to her bedroom.

"Is she in a bad mood or not?" I whisper to Mariana.

"I'm don't think so," she whispers back and glances around the room.

"Should we tell her now or tomorrow? Wait, do we have to tell both of them? Or can we just tell one and have her tell the other?"

"I don't know. Tomorrow they could be in a worse mood. What are we supposed to tell them?"

I let out a long breath, "…Maybe we can just leave the tape with a sticky note by their door, and they can read it in the morning?" I suggest.

I know that it's a really bad way to tell them, but I honestly didn't want a long lecture about it. Or worse. Have them call Bill and tell him to pick me up tonight. I was much too tired to have to leave without taking a nap.

"That's definitely a bad idea. That would only make them angrier than they are going to be if we just tell them."

"Maybe we don't have to tell them at all… Maybe we should just give the tape to Callie," I suggest. We both stare up the stairs as if the steps were on fire, and we had do jump over them to get to the top.

"Tell us what?" Stef asks from behind us, causing us both to jump. Mariana and I look at each other for a long time before we turn around.

_Shit! She heard us._

The moment she sees me her face goes pale. "What happened to your face?" the blonde asks angrily as she grabs my face into her hands to get a better look.

But I pull it away from her immediately, not liking her angry reaction or the fact that she was touching me. "Nothing," I snap realizing how stupid the answer was. "It's not a big deal."

She looks at me in disbelief, and then glances over to Mariana, as she lifts her hands to her hips, "What happened, Mariana?"

Mariana steals a glance at me, but she doesn't have the courage to speak.

Just then, Lena comes down the stairs at the sound of Stef's voice, and that was when she saw the fresh bruise on my face. "Oh my God," she practically whispers.

"Mariana?" Stef says louder.

"Well, it wasn't me," the girl yells.

"Obviously. I'm asking what happened?" Stef argues right back.

That's when I had to say something, "It wasn't her fault, so just calm down. Let's not overreact here," I say calmly.

Both of her moms look at me with raised eyebrows, and I realize I must've said the wrong thing. "…please," I add.

Stef crosses her arms, "Then, whose fault was it?"

I look away from her and glance at the stairs, wondering if Callie could hear me. "Look, can we talk about this somewhere else, please?" I ask, causing them both to exchange glances.

Just as it looks as if Stef is about to burst, Lena speaks first. "Sure, honey," she offers as she begins walking down the rest of the stairs. We all follow her into the kitchen.

* * *

The moms just stand beside the table anxiously waiting, and Mariana is the first to start spilling. "All right. Moms, you both should probably sit for this," she says while pointing her hand to the two seats in front of them.

Stef and Lena exchange unbelievable glances, as they knew that whatever we had to say was not going to be good. After a few seconds, they reluctantly take a seat.

"Christina?" Mariana says as she pushes me forward.

"Thanks," I say sarcastically. "…Okay. So promise not to get mad," I say and wait for the two women to respond.

Mariana nods her head behind me, encouraging them to promise.

Stef's mouth opens but nothing comes out.

I try to help them out, "This is the part where you're both supposed to say, 'Yes, we promise.'"

"We can't promise that," Lena says as she folds her hands onto the table. "But we promise to keep an open mind."

"Why not? It's not that bad," I say.

"Christina," Stef cautions.

"Yeah?" I say nonchalantly.

"Just tell us what it is already," she says in a flat tone, obviously wanting to get this conversation over with.

I sigh and I already know that there's no getting past this. "Okay, so let me start off by saying that nobody got hurt."

All three of them give me a quizzical look.

"I mean just me, but I'm totally fine," I inform them.

"…Okay. Go on," Lena offers after a while.

"And let me also say that it was completely my idea. And Mariana didn't really do anything."

"Well, I didn't have to go with you," she says in my defense.

"Sorry about that," I say, but this time I mean it. I look back at the moms who are staring at us confusingly and continue, "So basically, Mariana and I overheard the conversation between you two, Callie, and her lawyer earlier and—"

"You two eavesdropped?" Stef asks angrily.

I look over at Mariana, wondering if I should continue. _If she was mad about the eavesdropping, I didn't even want to know how she'd react over everything else._

"Honey," Lena says as she places her hand over Stef's, to allow for us to continue without any more interruptions.

Mariana jumps in, "Um…yeah. We know it was wrong and trust me. We're sorry. It won't happen again."

"Uhuh," Stef says unconvincingly.

"Go on," Lena adds.

Mariana continues, "We felt bad about the whole Liam situation and the chances that the judge might not believe Callie."

"And I had met Liam at Wyatt's party, that we weren't supposed to go to, and we hit it off or whatever."

"The same Liam?" Lena asked with a shocked expression.

"Yes, but I didn't know that at the time, being how no one told me about the situation. Thank you for that by the way," I answer sarcastically and realize that I shouldn't be speaking to them this way. "Sorry," I offer as I wait for a response from them but I don't get one, so I just keep going, "…Basically, we didn't want Liam to get away with what he did, so we sort of thought it'd be a good idea to set him up."

Mariana coughs.

"I mean, I thought it'd be a good idea. Mariana tried to stop me and everything, but I told her I was going to do it anyway, so she didn't really do anything wrong here." I look at two women's faces and see that they have their mouths hung wide open and look petrified. I ramble so I don't have to look at their nervous faces all night, "Okay. So we basically set him up, and he started to act all crazy and whatever. We recorded the entire thing, so that you can use it as evidence for court tomorrow. He doesn't know about the tape or anything. He doesn't even know that we know Callie. This way, she should have the upper-hand in court tomorrow."

Still silence.

"And that's pretty much it," I finish, as I take out the tape recorder from my purse and put in on the table in front of them and start to back away slowly and listen to Mariana following my lead.

We're almost out of their sight when I hear Stef's voice, "Wait a minute…"


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

* * *

**Christina's POV**

We're almost out of their sight when I hear Stef's voice, "Wait a minute."

Mariana and I freeze in our spots, and I have half a mind to keep walking as if I hadn't heard the woman at all. I know that tone in her voice and it depicted pure anger, something I didn't feel capable of handling at the moment.

"Come back here right now," she continues in an even louder voice.

After a slight hesitation, we both slowly turn around and start walking back toward her and Lena. Stef stands up from her seat and leans her hands against the table, while breathing loudly and looking downwards, in an effort to calm down. Lena had her hand on the woman's arm, attempting to comfort her, but I wasn't sure.

"What's up?" I ask innocently, as if I didn't know why they were so angry.

Stef stares up at me through squinted eyes, and I can tell that she's thinking there must be something wrong with me. And as soon as she looks as if she's about to burst, Lena takes the lead.

"You two went out with Liam tonight?" Lena asks.

Mariana answers, "Not exactly… We went out with Jasper first, and Liam came to his house to meet up with Christina."

Lena lets out a heavy breath as she tries to take in the information as calmly as possible, while her wife just stands next to her with her mouth open and a frightened expression on her face. "Okay, what happened next?" Lena asks.

"…I already told you everything," I remind her.

"Tell us again!" Stef yells at me, which throws me off completely.

I knew that they'd be pissed off, but this reaction was completely uncalled for.

"Um," I start nervously. "Basically, he got mad at me and…kind of attacked me. Then, Jasper came out and told him to leave. And end of story."

"What do you mean he attacked you?" Stef asks as she crosses her arms over her chest.

I gesture toward the bruise on my face as if it was obvious, and she begins shaking her head.

"Why would you two go out with Liam to begin with?" Lena asks next.

"To get evidence to help Callie's case…Look, I know you said that you didn't want me coming up with any more crazy ideas, but I think this one was worth it. Now that we have Liam showing that side of himself on video, then he can get charged for what he did to Callie." I cross my arms over my own chest, "I have no regrets, so…"

"Do you two not realize how dangerous that situation was?" Stef asks with even more venom in her voice.

"We had it completely under control," I try to remind her.

"Is that why you have marks on your face and neck?"

"I said that I was fine. It doesn't even hurt anyways."

"That's besides the point!" Stef yells. "You intentionally put yourself and my daughter in a very dangerous situation after we expressly told you not to!"

"I was only trying to help!"

"By almost getting yourself killed?"

"Wow! Really?" I ask sarcastically.

"Yes, really! Christina. When are you going to realize, that you can't keep throwing yourself in harms way," Stef asks.

"When are you going to?" I retort.

"Excuse me?" she asks, completely baffled by my response.

"How can you be such a hypocrite? You're a cop for Christ's sake! You put yourself in danger practically everyday! At least I waited for the weekend."

"That is completely different. I do it to help people!"

"Well, this time I was trying to help Callie!"

That's when we heard Callie's voice from behind us, "Help Callie with what?"

* * *

**Stef's POV**

Lena brakes the awkward silence, "Callie, can you please go to your room for a minute?"

Callie glances at us all strangely and I can tell that she wants to know what was going on that involves her. "It's okay Sweets. We'll be up soon to talk to you," I remind her with a forced smile.

"Oookayy…." Callie says as she walks back out of the kitchen.

Lena turns toward Christina after a few seconds, "Listen, we know that you were trying to do the right thing here, but—"

"Do you?" Christina snaps. "The lawyer said that he needed direct evidence, and that's exactly what we got him. I don't understand what the big deal is."

"Are you even listening to me, Christina?" I ask her. "You put yourself in danger. AGAIN," I say just for emphasis.

"I know that. But I'm fine," Christina continues.

"No! You are not fine! If you were fine, you would've never done something so incredibly stupid."

"Why am I stupid, because I wanted to help someone?" Christina answers and throws her hands in the air, "You know what? I don't even care," she finishes as she walks out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

"HEY!" I yell as run to catch up. "Don't walk away from me while I'm talking to you!"

"You're not talking. You're yelling! There's a big difference. And I don't need this."

At that exact moment, she begins to open the front door, but I slam it back shut.

"Go upstairs! RIGHT NOW!" I yell, which causes her to whip her body around to face me. We are barely a foot apart and glaring into each other's eyes challengingly.

After a few seconds, Christina gives in and lowers her gaze from my face, which was the smartest thing she's ever done if you ask me. She grunts and turns around to begin to stomp up the stairs.

I watch after her, until she opens the door to Mariana's room and slams it closed. I couldn't believe that this girl was really testing my patience. And the second I heard the door shut, Lena had to grab my arm to calm me down, because I was a millisecond away from going after her and continuing the argument.

* * *

**Mariana's POV**

I stayed in the kitchen and waited silently for all of them to come back. I sure as hell wasn't going to follow them to get yelled at even more.

A minute later, both of my moms come back inside the kitchen. Mom walked in and she was shaking her head with disapproval at something. I could tell that she was still thinking about her loud argument with Christina. But Mama has this disappointed look on her face as she stares at me, which just makes me feel even worse.

"Mariana—" she starts, but I cut her off.

"Look, I know that what we did was wrong, but can you at least look at the tape. I'm sure that you can use it to convict Liam or whatever, and we really tried to do the right thing…Even if it was the wrong thing at the same time."

Both of my mothers just stare at me for a while. I could tell that they knew deep down that I was right, but they still wanted to be angry about something.

"Mariana," Mama begins, "You're the oldest. Not to mention, you knew how we were going to react to something like this."

"I know. But Christina seemed so determined to do this, and I know that she was only trying to help."

Mom buds in, "Mariana, it doesn't matter. You should've come to us with this. We could've stopped it—"

"And what?" I interrupt. "Callie would lose her trial and Liam would get away with what he did, because no one would believe her?"

"We don't know that would've happened," Mama argued.

"Well, with that tape, we're almost positive that it won't… Look, I know that you're mad, but at least look at the tape before you decide to send her away. She went through a lot to get this evidence for Callie, and I know that she only did it to help."

"That doesn't make it okay," Mom argues as she eyes me sternly. It was obvious that she wanted to get her message across at it was working.

I just hoped that she'd hear mine.

"I know… And I know Christina knows too. I just…I don't think she's used to being told what to do," I shrug my shoulders.

Mama nods her head, "We'll take a look at it. But Mariana?"

"Yeah?"

"No more secrets."

I nod my head in agreement.

Mom continues, "We mean it, Mariana. If Christina ever comes to you with anything, and I mean ANYTHING like this again, you will let us know, yes?" she eyes me cautiously.

"I promise," I assure her.

"Okay," Mama says and kisses my forehead.

Mom pulls me in for a hug and pushes me out of the kitchen. "Now go. Mama and I need to talk."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

* * *

**Callie's POV**

Christina came into Mariana's room and slammed the door shut. I watched her walk over to her bed and lay facedown onto her pillow. The moment I think about saying something, I hear her muffled scream as she held the pillow against her face.

I look at her strangely for a few seconds until she's done and picks her face up to take a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" I ask her. It's obvious to me that she's not, but I knew that I had to say something.

"I can't take it here, Callie. I think I'm going to go crazy."

"Too late for that," I joke as I stare at her pillow with a smile. But she just gives me a dirty look in return. "…What happened?"

She sighs deeply before she continues, "Okay. Well, promise not to get mad at me okay?"

I eye her suspiciously. _Something tells me I'm going to get mad._

"Just promise me, please. I don't think I can take any more crazy today," she says and I can tell she's on the verge of crying.

"Okay," I say without a second thought.

"Alright. Good. So, how do I start this? Um, well, Mariana and I overheard your conversation with her moms and the lawyer earlier today. And yes. We were eavesdropping. Yes. We know it was wrong, but we did it anyway. And its too late to go back in time, so there's no reason to get mad about it, okay…"

My entire body goes numb. The fact that even more people know about what Liam did to me makes me sick. I promised that I wouldn't get mad, so I nod my head for her to continue.

"Okay, and we— I mean, _I_ made a plan to get direct evidence for you, because your lawyer said that you needed it, right? So that's what we did. And now, Stef is angry with us, or maybe just me. I don't even know. It's so stupid," she finishes while putting her hands up in the air.

"What do you mean you got direct evidence?" I ask. Nothing she said made absolutely any sense to me.

"We set him up and got him on tape acting crazy or whatever, because we thought it'd help you in court. But the plan worked, and now I'm in trouble, I guess. But I still don't think that I did anything that wrong. Everyone is fine. No one got hurt. Well, I did, but I don't care about that. The point is Mariana is fine. You're fine. Liam is fine…unfortunately. I mean, it's so not a big deal but her moms are acting like it is for some reason that I can't figure out. And all of a sudden I'm the bad guy… It's completely absurd."

"Why would you do that?" I snap. "Wait a minute… Is that why you have a bruise on your face?" I ask angrily. I could feel my blood starting to boil. The fact that she would do something like that, when she already knew how dangerous he was, pissed me off to the point of no return.

"Yes. And I was only trying to help. Don't tell me that you're going to be mad at me too. You promised you wouldn't get mad, remember?"

"What is wrong with you?" I yell.

"What's wrong with me? Are you freakin' kidding me right now?" Christina crosses her arms. "Mariana and I go out of our way to help you get justice tomorrow, and you're asking me what's wrong with me? Wow! You're welcome."

"I didn't ask you to do that! And if I knew you what you were up to, I wouldn't have let you do it. Liam is dangerous!"

"Well, duh, Captain Obvious. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I wasn't alone. So, we had everything taken care of."

"What you did was very stupid. And you dragged their kid into it. That's why they're mad," I remind her.

"Whatever, Callie! Screw you too!" she says as she stands up to walk out of the room.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

I have to leave the room and I lock myself in the bathroom, because it was the only place I knew that I would be getting yelled at. They were all overreacting for no reason. All I tried to do was one nice thing, and it blows up in my face.

Literally.

A few seconds later I hear a soft knock on the door, "What do you want?" I ask angrily, not caring who was on the other side of the door. At this point, I was ready to get into a screaming match with a freaking turtle if I had to.

"Open up," Mariana says softly.

I let out a deep breath and consider turning on the shower and letting the water run as if I didn't hear her. Then, I hear her knock again.

I throw open the door and glare at her, "What?" I snap.

She pushes me in and closes the door behind her, "Why did you have to get so angry?" she asks worriedly.

"Why didn't you? We didn't do anything wrong and we're the ones getting called stupid," I remind her.

"Mom didn't call us stupid. She said we did a stupid thing."

"Well that stupid thing will help get that scumbag in jail! I don't see what the problem is. And Callie isn't even grateful."

"You don't see what the problem is? Christina, you almost got yourself killed. That's why my mom is upset."

"Why is it any of her business though? What I choose to do has nothing to do with her? She's completely overreacting. And so is Callie. And you're in the same boat."

"Ever think that maybe you're underreacting?"

"Underreacting?" I laugh. "Is that even a word?" I challenge.

"Yes, it is! And my moms are right. It was a stupid plan that could've gone very wrong."

"Don't you think I know that? That's why I did it… Well, that and helping Callie was a big part of it too."

"What? What do you mean? You wanted it to go wrong?" she asks with a confused look on her face.

"No…I don't know. I can't explain it," I tell her.

"Well, good luck explaining it to my moms," she says as she throws open the bathroom door to leave, but stops when she sees both Stef and Lena standing in the doorway.

**To be continued...**


	22. Chapter 22

**Christina's POV**

There was an uncomfortable silence as Mariana and I stared at the two women in the doorway. I couldn't help but wonder exactly how much both of them had overheard. And by the looks on their faces, the chances of them having heard too much were pretty high.

"Moms!" Mariana starts, "Uh…I think I'll just get to bed," she says casually before she darts off toward her bedroom in a hurry. I watch after her helplessly, hating the fact that she just left me hanging.

_Thanks, Mariana. Thanks…_

"Yeah… You know what? I think that's a really good idea. I'm pretty tired too," I say as I start to follow her lead, but Lena puts herself in front of me, so that there's no way for me to leave the bathroom.

"I think we need to have a talk with you first," Lena says as she crosses her arms over her body.

"About what?" I ask innocently as I keep my body as relaxed as possible as to not attract any attention or show any sign of fear.

"I think you know what," Lena answers as she raises her eyebrows before putting her hand on my shoulder, in an effort to start moving me toward her and Stef's room.

_Here it comes!_ I think to myself. _The "this isn't working out. You're a good kid, really. But we think you'll be better off somewhere else" talk…_

I wish I could just fast-forward to the end, where Bill just picks me up, and we call it a night. _Why do all these foster-parents feel that they need to have a talk before they do this? Like it was actually better to have every single talk with every single person engrained into my memory forever and ever…_

"I thought we already talked," I tell her as I pause at the doorway, not wanting the two women to force me inside with them.

Stef nudges me farther inside the room, "Now's not the time to be getting smart with us, young lady," she says flatly.

_Really? Because now seems like the perfect time to me,_ I want to respond back but I sigh instead.

* * *

I turn around as she closes the door behind her, wanting nothing more than to run back out and change my mind.

_Great! This is just great! Another freaking argument. That's all I needed to end my long and complicated night._

I cross my arms and try to brace myself for whatever else they were going to yell at me for.

"Sit," Lena says as she gestures toward her bed.

I contemplate whether to listen to her or not. Either way I was going to get yelled at, but sitting down as they stood, put me in a defensive position. At least if I was standing, I'd have a better chance of getting away if things were to get physical. Not that these people really seemed like the abusive type, but even I knew that things are not always as great as they seem.

Lena glances at me strangely and then changes her expression as if she understood why I didn't want to sit. "Christina, we're not going to yell at you."

"We're not?" Stef asks in a harsh tone as she squints her eyes at Lena in confusion.

Lena gives her a stern look, "No, we're not." She glances back over at me, "We just want to talk to you." Her voice is calm, but I know all too well how "calm" can turn into "rage" in a matter of seconds.

"About what?" I ask innocently. I've never been one to dish out more information than I should. I certainly wouldn't start now.

_Please don't tell me you heard Mariana and I talking. Please don't tell me you heard Mariana and I talking._

"Well, first things first. The video," Lena says as she pulls the computer desk chair beside the bed so that she could sit. Stef remains standing.

"It should help Callie's trial tomorrow, right?" I ask, hoping that I didn't just go through all of that for absolutely nothing.

"We hope so," Stef says. "But that's besides the point," her voices straightens. "We saw it, Christina. And we're not happy that you did it, regardless of your intentions. We get it. You wanted to help Callie. But you could've helped her, simply by being there for her—"

"But that wasn't enough to me. I didn't want to just sit by and watch a disaster waiting to happen. I needed to do something to help."

Stef shook her head as I spoke, "What? By putting yourself in a dangerous position? …That tape was _brutal_, Christina. What Liam did to you was—"

"Yeah, I was kinda there. I know what happened, Stef," I reply sarcastically. But as soon as the words escape my mouth, I wish that I could take them back. To travel back in time fifteen seconds and take them back.

_God! Why couldn't I just shut up when I was being spoken to?_

"Sorry," I mumble as I look away from both of them, so that I didn't have to see there frustrated facial expressions. "I get it. I shouldn't have done it. It won't happen again."

_Do I really mean this?_ I wonder.

"Just like you said that you wouldn't get any more crazy ideas after you, Callie, and Brandon went to go kidnap Jude?" Stef asks angrily. Her face was hardening and her lips were clenched together. I could see her hands tense on her hips. And I watch them, just waiting for her to lunge at me somehow.

I stay silent as I think of a back up plan, just incase she tried to hit me.

But I can't help but wonder, _Why are they only seeing the bad in all of this?_

_Why can't they just accept what already happened and move on?_

_It's too late to take it back and I already said sorry. _

_What more do they want from me?_

I consider asking them these questions, but I just want to get this conversation over with. My questions would just provoke a longer more boring lecture, and I was honestly too exhausted for any of it.

"We need to know the real reason, why you chose to do what you did," Lena continues in a softer tone.

"I already told you."

"Yes, we know that you wanted to help Callie. But we also know that there's something else going on here," Lena says, as if she could read me like a book.

I hated people like that, people that just met you and act as if, they know every detail about your life.

"There's not," I assure her. "Look, if you're that mad about it. Just call Bill to come and get me. I'm too tired and too exhausted to keep repeating myself all night. I don't even care anymore. Can this conversation just be over already? Please?"

Lena's voice rose a little, "No, it cannot," she pauses and takes a deep breath before she continues, realizing that she was showing just how upset she was, "Christina, we overheard your conversation with Mariana…"

_Crap!_

"…And we need to know what you meant, when you said that you did this because you knew that it could be dangerous."

_Crap! Crap! Crap! Think of something!_

"What?" I ask cluelessly in order to by some extra time.

Lena continues and her voice distracts my thinking, "When Mariana told you that it was a stupid plan that could have gone very wrong, you said that you knew that. And that was why you did it. What did you mean?"

"I think you must have misheard me."

Stef pipes in as she lowers her head but keeps her eyes directly on mine, "So, we both misheard you?"

"Okay… so maybe I misheard Mariana. I don't really remember. Is it really that serious? It's no big deal, okay? Can we just drop it please?"

* * *

**Lena's POV**

I'm trying everything in my power to remain calm about this. I don't want to frighten the girl into complete silence. But at the same time, she still thinks that this behavior is normal. That _WE _are the ones who are overreacting.

As frustrated as I am, I know that Stef is trying her best not to physically shake the girl into reality.

"This _is_ a big deal, Christina. You could have died tonight. Do you not get that?" I ask her, hoping that something we say would register.

"Yes," she answers nonchalantly. "It was dangerous. Got it."

Stef gets frustrated and continues for me, "I don't think that you do, have it. Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep putting yourself in these dangerous situations, when you know very well of the consequences, yes?"

"Yes," Christina answers.

"First, you lure a grown man out of his house to help a girl, you just met, kidnap her brother. Then, you run away, get into a stranger's car, putting yourself in another dangerous position. Then, you put yourself in even more danger with Liam, and you knew what he was capable of. And now, you act as if nothing happened at all." Stef sounds bewildered and she doesn't understand how this girl was getting away with so much and neither do I. We grounded her and it hadn't taught her anything at all.

Stef sighs and tries to sound calm, "We just want to understand why."

"I don't know!" Christina yells at us.

"What does that mean?" Stef asks with confusion.

She sighs, "I can't explain it, okay?"

"Well, try," Stef asks in a less threatening voice, and I can tell that she' trying her best to understand the girl.

Christina let out a deep breath, "…I think I like not knowing what could happen…" She shrugs her shoulders as if the conversation was now over, but Stef and I just stare at her and wait for her to continue. She gets the hint and does just that, "I know that all those things I did were stupid, but they were kind of fun at the same time. Well, up to a point anyway…."

"You did it because you thought it was fun?" I ask in confusion.

"Well, not really _fun_. I guess. Because they weren't, but I liked the whole dangerous "anything-can-happen" spontaneous feeling."

Stef stares at her with awe and it was obvious that she never heard of anything like this, "So, you like gambling with your life?"

"Yeah…well, no. Maybe? I don't know. I told you that I couldn't explain it. You should've just left it at that," Christina answers as she slaps her knee with her hands.

"DO YOU REALIZE HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS? NEXT TIME, YOU MIGHT NOT BE SO LUCKY!" Stef yells.

"So?" Christina replies. "And you give me a lot less credit than I'm worth. I've been doing this for years, and I'm still breathing, aren't I?"

"I—" Stef stumbles on her words, "I—I can't even deal with this, right now," she finishes as she puts her hands up and storms out of the room.

"If you two didn't want to know, you shouldn't have asked," Christina responds angrily as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Christina, we're just worried about you."

"Well, don't be. I'm fine… No, actually I'm tired. Can I go to sleep now?"

I sigh and give in, knowing that we weren't going to get any further into this tonight, "Go ahead.

She stands up and walks out of the room and into Mariana's, while I get up in search for my wife.

**To be continued...**


	23. Chapter 23

**Lena's POV**

When I finally find Stef, she's sitting outside on our front porch drinking out of a mug, of which I already assume is tea. She glances up at me after a few seconds. "What happened? Where did she go?" she asks as if Christina would've snuck off again because she sensed trouble.

"I sent her to bed," I admit, "She looked pretty tired…How are you?"

"I can't do this, Lena. I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea…I know we said that we would foster all three until Bill finds a permanent placement for them, but I can't do this if… she's just going to end up dead. And on my watch?" She raises an eyebrow at her last words.

"So, what do you want to do? You're not seriously suggesting that we just give up on her, are you?" I ask in disbelief.

"Well… I don't know, Lena. But do you really think we're the ones to help her? She's not listening to a thing that we say if you hadn't noticed—"

"Stef… it doesn't matter. She needs it and you heard what she said... She's been doing this for years and no one has noticed…"

"And how exactly are we going to help her?" Stef asks me sarcastically.

"Not by giving up on her… If she's been doing this for as long as she says she has, then it's a miracle she's still alive. Nowhere in her file does it say _anything_ about _any _of this, and we're the first one's to realize it. What do you want to do? Be another family on the list of families that she's lived with who chose to ignore it? We need to at least try to get her the help she needs so that she doesn't—."

"We don't need to do anything, Lena," Stef takes a deep breath, "Look, honey. I know that you want to help everyone. It's one of the many things that I love about you but…there's just some people you can't help."

"And what if this were Mariana?"

Stef sighs and I know that she thinks she knows were I'm going with this. "It's not M—"

"I know that. But what if it was? Christina is younger than Mariana, Stef. What if she were in this type of trouble? Would you just let her spiral out of control?"

"Are you _trying_ to make me feel guilty?"

"That depends… Is it working?"

"Honey, I don't want to keep getting attached to a girl that's going to end up dead in a few weeks. That's what I'm afraid of. That I'm going to be working one day and end up at the crime scene, _her_ crime scene. That's not fair to me either. And it's not fair for the kids to get attached to her too, if that's what's going to end up happening."

"I understand that, but we can't just send her back. That's probably why she's like this in the first place. For heaven's sake, her own mother tried to burry her alive, Stef. Did you forger that?"

"Of course, I didn't forget that. That was one of the main reasons I brought her back to the house after she ran away."

"Alright, well, she's acting out, or maybe its something else. But don't you think we should at least try before we give up. You heard her tonight; she must've mentioned Bill over a dozen times. She expects us to disappoint her, because that's what she's used to. "

"So what does that mean?" Stef asks. "She needs to know that someone actually cares? Is that it? I thought we have been doing that, Lena. Come on."

"All we have been doing is telling her what to do. That's how our kids know we care, but Christina's not our kid. Mariana said it herself, that Christina wasn't used to being told what to do. Maybe we need to take a different approach with her. I know it's going to be hard for us, but we should at least give it a shot… And we could take her to the therapist, and get more expert advice on what to do. Please, Stef. It would really mean a lot to me."

"I hate when you do this," Stef says in a flattened tone, but I stay silent, knowing that she's going to give in soon. "…I'm giving it two more weeks and that's it," she starts in a stern voice, "If I don't see a change in those two weeks, _a dramatic change_, then, I'm not going to keep doing this."

"That's all I'm asking for," I say.

She nods her head and leaves the room.

And I can't help but wonder if we could really get her to change in just two weeks…

* * *

**A/N: I know this chapter is short. But the next one goes into the trial and its much longer so throwing half of it in here didn't make sense. **

**Question: Do you think they're going to get Christina to change her ways? Any predictions as to what is going on with her?**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Yes, I'm alive people. Sorry I haven't been updating. Life got in the way. **_**This chapter is completely new**_** because I wanted to add Callie's part into the trial. Although I absolutely love what Dramatic-ADD-Having-ass-Writer did with this fic, there were some things I did want to see that I thought were missing. When I take over someone else's fic, I don't just lazily repost the chapters so that's why it might take a while. Like I said, I edit and change them a lot to fit my particular writing style so that the fic flows almost seamlessly without the obvious "Oh and this is **_**the new writer's writing.**_** That is why I didn't post the entire twenty-something chapters automatically and start from there. I try to make it my own too. **

_**Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer nor do I claim to know much about the law. Everything that I write in the trial part of this chapter is just based on the hundreds of Law & Order: SVU episodes that I've watched. If you don't watch that awesome show, you should. Just saying.**_

_**And I will warn you that the subject of rape is talked about here since it is Callie's trial. I wont go into too much detail but I thought it was important to note, so read on your own discretion.**_

* * *

**Stef's POV**

During the drive to the courthouse, I could tell that something was bothering Christina by the way that she was dozing off and not answering mine or Lena's questions. Callie seemed okay, but it was obvious that she must've been worried about going on the stand. What upsets me even more is that I'm not entirely sure how this hearing is going to play out. Callie's lawyer, Mr. Davis, didn't even know if he would be able to add any new evidence to show a jury, so he didn't have time to do a practice hearing with Christina like he had done with Callie.

As soon as we pull into the parking lot, I shut off the engine and turn around to look at both girls who are both staring at me in confusion. I smile softly so that they don't feel threatened, "Are you two sure you're ready for this? I don't either of you to feel like I'm pressuring you into saying or doing something that you're not a hundred percent comfortable with."

"Stef's right," Lena adds. "If either of you want to change your minds and don't want to testify, don't be afraid to say anything. We won't be mad. We know that it's going to be challenging, especially since there hasn't been a pre trial. And Christina, we have no idea what they're going to ask you at all so—"

"I'm fine," she quickly interrupts. "Can we just go already?"

Her harsh attitude catches both Lena and I off guard. "No, we cannot go," I defend, which just causes her to roll her eyes and breathe out an exaggerated breath. And if we weren't on such a tight schedule, and if she didn't look so warn out on the outside, I would've probably snapped at her. But instead I turn toward Callie, "Are you alright with this, Callie? You've barely said anything all day, sweets?"

"Yeah, sorry I'm fine. I just want to get this over with too," she answers as she shrugs her shoulders softly. "…But I want to. I want to tell them what really happened. I don't want to have to lie. I need to tell them the truth."

* * *

**General POV**

_Trial_

_Mr. Davis= Callie's Lawyer_

_Mr. Harass= Liam's Lawyer_

Callie sat in the witness stand and it was obvious how uncomfortable she felt. She hadn't realized that there would be so many people in the room with her. People that she didn't even know. Of course Mr. Davis informed her that there would be others there _but did there have to be so many? Did they all have to be staring at her? _She hadn't expected how strong the pressure was going to be until she was up there. _How was she going to go from keeping this a secret for two years, telling one person, to telling two more, to then telling a room full of at least 30 people_?

Mr. Davis stood up and walked over toward her and the room fell completely silent. "Can you state your name for the jury please?"

Callie coughed nervously before answering, "Callie Jacobs."

"Miss Jacobs, can you tell the jury how you know Mr. Olmstead?"

"Um, yeah. I met Liam when I first moved in with the Olmstead's with my little brother Jude… a little over two years ago. And he lived with his family at the time. Even slept in room next to mine."

"So he was nineteen years old…" Mr. Davis implied.

"Objection!" Liam's lawyer, Mr. Harass shouted.

"Mr. Davis, make that a question or move on," the judge instructed.

"Was Liam Olmstead nineteen years old?"

"Yes. He had a birthday just a few days after I got there. So yes."

"Now this was two years ago, correct?"

"Yes."

"And how old were you at the time?"

"Um, I was 14."

"You were fourteen… Now, Miss Jacobs, when you first moved in with the Olmsteads, did Liam Olmstead show a particular interest toward you that you found uncomforting?"

"When I first got there no. He was always more nice to me as compared to he was with Jude, even though he was nice to him too… But I didn't find it uncomforting at first. I thought he was just being nice."

"Now can I ask you, did you and Liam ever have a romantic relationship with one another?"

* * *

Callie knew that this question was coming. Her lawyer prepared her for as much so that the defense attorney wouldn't ask her first. She sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "Liam was the first person who actually showed me any attention since our mom passed. He was kind toward my brother and toward me. He would always do things for me that would make me feel special and I liked him a lot for that… And eventually we kissed once or maybe twice. He called me his girlfriend. Not his sister and in return I called him my boyfriend… I knew that it was wrong but I didn't want him to be mad at me or Jude. He was the only other person besides Jude that I thought really cared and I… didn't want to lose his trust."

"So Miss Jacobs, have you ever had sex with Liam Olmstead aside from the night in question?"

"No. And it wasn't sex. It was rape."

"Objection!" Mr. Harass yelled again.

The judge turned toward Callie, "Miss Jacobs, I'm going to need to you answer only the questions that are asked. Mr. Davis, you should've went over this with her."

"I'm sorry, your honor…Miss Jacobs, can you tell us what happened on the night of September 3rd in the year that you were staying with the Olmsteads?"

Callie stared out into the crowd of people who were just looking right back at her. She didn't dare stare at Stef or Lena, because she knew she'd completely withdraw from the stand. Sure, she told them what happened but she hadn't went into complete detail and they hadn't heard the entire story. Mr. Davis reminded her that she would have to tell the jury everything that happened that night, if she decided not to go with the statutory rape scenario, but she never thought that she would actually do it. Or that she would have to tell a room full of complete strangers.

But then the thought about the same thing that happened to her, happening to Sarah. She couldn't blame the girl for not believing her. At that stage of their relationship, she wouldn't have believe her either. And she knew it would, if Liam got away with it the first time.

_What's to stop him from doing it again if she didn't open her mouth?_ _And he did already try with Christina apparently._ Callie hadn't seen the tape but she knew it couldn't have been pretty after seeing the bruises on the younger girl's face that had darkened this morning. She hadn't even wanted to ask how far it had gotten after seeing them.

But she owed it to her. To both of them. She wasn't going to allow everything that Christina had gone through the night before be for nothing. No matter how angry Callie was with the girl for intentionally putting herself in that position, she couldn't bring herself to that.

"…Everything had been going fine that night. I had gone to bed in my room, just like I had gone every night before then, for the five months that Jude and I had stayed there. I already felt pretty safe, considering how long we had been there and how the Olmsteads treated us. We uh… We already felt like part of their family no matter the short of amount of time I we had stayed with them. I didn't even feel the need to lock my bedroom door anymore… I'm a pretty light sleeper so… I woke up the second the doorknob twisted open. But I assumed it was my little brother Jude coming in because he had a nightmare again. I was still half asleep so I didn't say much and I didn't think of anything, when I felt the door close and someone sinking their body onto my bed." Callie paused and looked up at Liam and his parents who were all looking right back at her with a look of disgust in their eyes. It was easier to look at them when she spoke than it was to look at Stef and Lena for some odd reason. She hadn't wanted to see if they had the same look. She knew they had told her that it wasn't her fault but she also knew that she didn't tell them everything to really make that distinction. "…Um, I even adjusted the blanket a little so that he wouldn't get cold. But when I felt someone's hand touch my thigh I knew it wasn't my little brother." At that exact moment, a tear dropped from one of Callie's eye and she immediately raised her hand to wipe it away, so that Liam wouldn't get the satisfaction of actually seeing her cry. That was her plan, to come into the courtroom cold and leave unscathed. But she felt like an idiot as she wiped her tear away, wondering what had gone wrong.

She took another deep breath so that she could force herself to continue recounting the nightmare. "His hands were much bigger as compared to Jude's. And at his touch, I quickly became more alert and sat up and turned my body around to face him. My eyes had already adjusted to the light so I could see that it was Liam by the color of his hair. I asked him what he was doing there, and he said that he wanted to be close to me and he moved his hand to my face and started stroking my cheek. I wasn't sure what to think at first, but I was definitely uncomfortable having him on my bed. I couldn't really move… and then he started to kiss me. I didn't know what to do, but somehow I ended up kissing him back... Then I…felt his hand go up my shirt and I immediately pushed it away. He seemed upset by this and asked me what was wrong. I couldn't give him an answer because I couldn't really think of a good enough reason to tell him. I didn't want to upset him but I knew that I didn't want to do what I thought he wanted to… Then he asked me if I still wanted to be his girlfriend. I told him yes. He said that if I still wanted to, I had to put my guard down and trust him. I…I wasn't sure exactly what that meant because I thought that was already doing that but obviously not. And when he went in to kiss me again, I tried to be more relaxed. I was really stupid and allowed him to continue to kiss me. We did that for a little while and then he laid me back down onto the bed. He uh..." she scrunched her nose a little, and to the moms that was an obvious sign that she was uncomfortable. Still she continued, "… he mounted himself on top of me. I didn't say anything, and he just kept kissing me. He moved his lips down from mine toward my neck and I tried to relax myself as much as I could. I didn't want it to go that far but I didn't want to have to leave another nice family or lose someone who I thought cared about both, me and my brother, to the extent that I thought Liam did. And… when I felt his hands on my hips, attempting to pull down my pajama pants I immediately tried to sit myself up, but… he uh, pushed me back down with his arm and spread my legs with his other hand and his knees. That's when I knew that I had enough and asked him to stop. I told him that I didn't want to and he just kept telling me to relax. I couldn't. I raised my voice a little and told him to get off of me. He didn't like that… so then he shoved his forearm against my neck and I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe…" Callie stopped and took in another breath just to remind herself that she could now. She wasn't in that situation right now. She was just talking about it. "…I tried pushing him away and then pushing turned into scratching, then scratching turned to punching. I even tried kicking him but that didn't work either. And once he was… inside of me, he let go of my neck and placed one hand over my mouth to muffle my screams and used the other to hold down both of my wrists over my head. I wasn't sure how long it had gone on… but it felt like forever."

"Miss Jacobs, now aside from the _pushing, scratching, punching, and kicking_ that you did, did you ever ask Liam to stop?" Mr. Davis asked.

"Yes."

"How many times?"

"At least two times. I would have screamed but I could barely say anything."

"How would you if you're being strangled almost to death."

"Mr. Davis," the judge warns.

"Withdrawn… Miss Jacobs, can you tell me what Liam did afterwards?"

"He apologized. He said that he didn't want to hurt me but that I should have done what he asked in the first place. He said that I was his girlfriend, so I should have trusted him. And then he told me that he loved me and asked me if I loved him."

"And what did you say?"

"Nothing… I felt almost frozen I guess. He didn't seem to mind because he kissed me and then left my room."

* * *

"Did you tell anyone about what Liam did to you? His mother or father?"

Callie shook her head and responded with a simple "No."

"Why not?"

"I knew that I'd get in trouble if I admitted to being in any type of relationship with him. I'd get separated from my brother and I didn't want that."

"And how was your relationship with Liam after that night."

"We didn't have one. He would try to kiss me, and I would push him away. I started locking my door at night and kept close to Jude or his mother every time we were in the house together."

"But his family found out about your relationship, right? Can you tell us how that happened?"

"I didn't speak to him for a few weeks afterwards. And one day he told me that if I wasn't going to be his girlfriend that I didn't need to be there. I was scared of what he was going to do, but I didn't think he'd actually tell his parents about our relationship. I was wrong apparently, because told his dad that… I was hitting on him, that I was the one who kept trying to kiss him, that I told him I was in love with him. His parents called my social worker to come pick me and Jude up. I told them all that it was a lie but I didn't tell them what really happened either. I denied ever being in a romantic relationship with Liam or even kissing him… I had already allowed Liam take away so much from me, I wouldn't let him take away my brother, no matter how badly I wanted to tell them the truth."

"Why did you think you would be taken away from your brother?"

"Because if I were to admit to having any type of relationship with a foster sibling. I would have been considered sexually volatile. Those kids are sent into separate group homes and hardly ever get adopted. I mean, I knew that I wasn't going to get adopted, but the thought of not being there to defend my brother from having to go through any harmful situation was enough to get me to keep quiet."

"Thank you Miss. Jacobs. I have no more questions for this witness your honor," Mr. Davis said as he walked back toward the prosecution's table to take a seat.

* * *

"Does the defense have any questions for Miss Jacobs?" the judge asked as he looked over toward Liam and his lawyer.

"Yes, your honor."

"Proceed," the judge waved him forward. And everyone watched as Mr. Harass walked up toward Callie.

"Miss Jacobs, you said that this incident happened on September 3rd, correct?"

"Yes."

"How do you know the exact date?"

"September 2nd was my mother's birthday. Jude and I had gone to the cemetery to visit her the day before. It was easy for me to remember."

"So it was definitely the 3rd?"

"Yes."

"Get to the point, Mr. Harass," the judge ordered.

"I apologize, your honor. Miss Jacobs, if this incident happened on September 3rd, then how come you and your brother didn't get taken out of the Olmstead's house until the seventeenth, two weeks after you were 'allegedly' raped by Liam Olmstead?"

"Because I already told you that I didn't want to admit to having a relationship with him and—"

"Losing your brother," Mr. Harass finished. "Yes, we've heard… So you slept in a house with the man who allegedly raped you for two weeks?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. "Is this correct?

"Yes," Callie answered in an annoyed voice.

"And let me get this straight… You didn't tell anyone anything? Not his mother?"

"No."

"His father?"

"No."

"Your brother."

"No," Callie answered in annoyance. "He was just a kid."

* * *

"So there is no one on this earth that's able to corroborate your story. No one in the world who is able to say that you told him or her that you were raped. Not even the one who is closest to you. Is that correct?"

Callie stared back at the lawyer and then at Liam. "No. Liam is the only other person who knows what he to me."

"Why now? Why come forward now? Two years after the alleged attack?"

"Because… I met a girl at my group therapy. Her name is Sarah and I found out through a therapy session that she was living with the Olmsteads. She is around the same age that I was when I first stayed with them. I didn't want to think the worst, but when I started talking to her, she reminded me of how trusting I was when I first started living there. She kept talking about Liam and I just knew that he was doing the same thing to her. He was coaxing her, making her think that he cared, that she could trust him… I don't know. I just didn't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to another person. Actually talking to her face to face made me realize that I couldn't sit by and let something happen without saying anything, even if I have to get called a liar in front of a roomful of people."

"So you were trying to do the right thing, correct? Appear to be self-righteous? Is that what you want us to believe?"

"I'm just trying to tell the truth."

"Which truth? The truth that you are trying to help an innocent girl who doesn't know what's coming or that you felt jealous of Sarah after hearing about how close her and Liam were?"

"Objection, badgering the witness," Mr. Davis argues.

"It gives for a motive," Mr. Harass states matter-of-factly.

"I'll allow it," the judge intervenes. "Miss Jacobs, answer the question."

"I wasn't jealous of Sarah. I felt bad for her."

"Did you feel so bad for her that you filled her head with lies about my client because you were angry about something that happened two years ago? Miss Jacobs, were you not angry because he turned you down and tried to get you help by going to the people he trusted the most, his own parents?"

"They weren't lies," Callie's voice rose. "He raped me. He didn't help me."

"So he raped you but then he told on himself? Let's be clear that Mr. Olmstead was the one who told his parents about your relationship and then told your social worker immediately. He wasn't the one who waited two weeks after he allegedly raped you to say something. He wasn't the one who waited two years to bring up charges with no evidence and no witnesses. He doesn't even have so much as a parking ticket to his name—"

"Your question?" the judge raised his voice.

* * *

"Just a few more. I'll make it quick. Miss Jacobs, have you ever been arrested, and if so for what?"

Lena quickly squeezed Stef's hand and placed her other one over her lap so that the blonde couldn't stand all the way up and do whatever it was she was about to do. Lena knew that it could range from either saying something smart to Liam's lawyer and getting them both kicked out of the courtroom, to running up and punching him in the face and getting herself arrested and losing her job. Everyone around them was staring at the blonde and shaking their heads with disapproval. Stef took another deep breath and watched as Callie did the same.

"I went to juvie once and for damaging someone else's property."

"Who's property and why?"

"My foster-father's car, and because I was angry that he was beating the crap out of my little brother. I was doing what I thought I had to do to get him to stop."

"So… it's safe to presume that you view yourself as a victim a lot and you use these stories to defend yourself, whenever you feel threatened… like when you found out about Sarah and Liam. You did whatever you _had to do_ to defend your relationship with him, right?"

"Objection," Callie's lawyer called.

"Withdrawn," Mr. Harass answered. "I have no further questions for this witness."

"You may step down, Miss Jacobs," the judge informed her, and Callie slowly got up and walked over toward the prosecution table and sat beside her lawyer without bothering to look up at all the eyes that were on her.

Mr. Davis stood up from his spot at the table, "Your Honor, in light of some new evidence, we'd like to invite another witness to the stand…"

**To be continued.**

* * *

**Next chapter: Christina takes the stand. **

**And what'd you think about this one? It took a long time to write. HOURS. I hate writing long chapters because I get lazy with proofreading them and usually there's a ton of mistakes :P So sorry if there are some. I'll be updating more fics tomorrow :)**


	25. Chapter 25

"What new evidence? What witness?" Liam questioned as he threw a smile at Callie, as if he were saying _You have nothing_.

His lawyer too smiled sheepishly at Mr. Davis before he turned to the judge, "Your honor. Last time I checked, I was informed that there was no rape-kit or a—"

Mr. Davis straightened his tie, "We're not talking about DNA evidence," he interrupted, "There has been entirely new evidence brought to my attention, _videotape_ evidence to be exact, which will prove to the court as well as everyone in here, that Liam, in fact, is a dangerous threat to Miss. Jacob and to others. There are also eye-witnesses that have signed affidavits that are claiming to have heard the encounter between—"

"What encounter? What witnesses" Liam asked angrily. He was suddenly worried that someone had recorded him, when he approached Callie at school.

"The encounter between Mr. Harass's client and another victim."

"Mr. Davis, you do know that all evidence had to be submitted before, Thursday. Correct?" the judge asked him.

"I am aware of that, your honor. But this evidence was just discovered last night, and under the dire circumstances, I'm hoping that you would take it under consideration."

"What other victim? Sarah?" Liam asked as he turned around to look at his parents, who also had worried looks on their faces.

The judge glared at him, "Mr. Harass, control your client! That is, unless he wants to be put in contempt."

"We are sorry, your Honor," his attorney apologized.

The judge looked back over at Mr. Davis, "I would like to see both of you in my chambers now," he ordered as he stood up and all three of them followed him into another room.

* * *

**Christina's POV**

_Pick up, mom! Pick up!_ is the only thing I'm thinking as I'm sitting outside the courtroom, using the payphone to call my mother. I needed to tell her that they were probably going to move me again. I would usually call her every time this happened. I knew that I wasn't really calling for her. It was more for me, I guess. _I could at least pretend that she cared, right?_

"Hello?" a voice comes on the other line.

"Mommy. Hi, it's me Christina."

"Yes. I know. Where have you been? Why haven't you been calling me lately?" she asks in an accusing tone.

"I'm at the…" I pause when I realize I shouldn't really mention being at a courthouse. I didn't want her to think I was in some sort of trouble. Not like she would care, but she would definitely make me feel worse about myself. _That_ I knew for sure. "I think I'm getting moved again... I just wanted to call and let you know."

"What'd you do this time, Christina?" she asks followed by a deep sigh.

"No… nothing."

"Yeah. Sure. You're always doing something. You see? That's why no one ever wants to stay with you. All you do is cause problems. But at least someone else besides me has to put up with you for once—"

"Okay, mom," I quickly interrupt; not wanting to hear her continue to tell me what a disaster of a daughter I was, and all of the problems I had caused her. I hated that she always blamed me _as if she was the victim_. Like everything she had done to me didn't even matter. "I just thought you'd want to know. Sorry…"

"All right. Fine, Christina. Just call me when you get there."

"Yeah, bye," I answer abruptly before I slam the phone back into the receiver. _Our conversations were always pointless. I shouldn't have even called her._ _It was like I was waiting for everything to turn back to the way things were. The way things were when she used to actually care. _

_But she said I was the one that messed it all up. And as hard as I try to pretend that I don't care about her or anything else in this world, my body always disagrees with me._

"Christina, you're up next," Stef says from a few feet down the hallway. I glance away from her and wipe the two or three tears that managed to escape my eyes. _Now wasn't the time to get emotional._ "Hey, are you okay?" she asks worriedly when I turn around.

_I guess that wiping my tears away doesn't really take the redness from my eyes._ "I'm fine," I snap. "I already told you that in the car."

"Well you don't look fine," she answers sternly. "Who were you just talking to?" she asks the second that she stares at the payphone.

"What? No one. Look, can we just get this over with?" I ask in an annoyed voice. _It was none of her business and she was beginning to piss me off with her pestering questions. What the hell did she care? _Today would probably be the last time I ever saw any of these people, so they didn't need to know my business.

She looks at me for a long time as if she was studying my expression, but I remained as cold and unaffected as I could possibly be. If she thought that I could be easily read, then she had another thing coming. "Okay," she nods. "That's fine."

* * *

As soon as both Stef and I enter the courtroom, we could all see the fear in Liam's face take over. His complexion immediately went pale and drops of sweat began to fall down his face.

"Your Honor, I was being compelled to do that video," Liam argued as he pointed to the camcorder in Mr. Davis' hand.

"I could tell," the Judge answered sarcastically.

"Your Honor, can I have a few minutes to confirm with my client?" Liam's lawyer asked.

"I don't see why you would need it. Your client has already chosen to deny the plea-agreement and has vehemently lied to my face inside of my own courtroom. In addition, he just admitted that he is in fact, the man in this video… No break," he said sternly.

The judge turned to face Mr. Davis, "Where is this witness?"

"She's right here," he said as he ushered me toward the witness stand.

"State your name, please?" the judge asked me before I got a chance to sit down down.

"Christina Infante."

"Alright Christina. Lift your right hand please."

I did as I was asked.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

"Uhuh," I answer, but everyone in the courtroom gave me a disapproving look, the judge included. After a while I realized what I did wrong, "…I mean, yes…

They still stared at me before I continued, "…your honor."

"Mr. Davis, you may proceed," the judge waved him forward.

Davis stood up and made his way over to the witness stand, "Miss Infante, may I ask when the video in question was taken?"

"Last night."

"And do you see the man in the video inside of this courtroom today?"

"Yes."

"Can you point him out for me please?" I pointed in Liam's direction._ This seems easy so far,_ I think to myself. "Let the record show that Miss Infante has indeed pointed to Liam Olmstead…Miss Infante, how do you know Mr. Olmstead?"

"I met him at a party."

"Is this the same party that you went to with Callie?"

"Yes," I answer.

"So this is the same party, in which Liam Olmstead threatened Callie the first time."

"Make that a question, Mr. Davis," the judge warns.

"I apologize, your honor. Miss. Infante, is the party in which you met Liam Olmstead, the same party in which Callie was first threatened by him?"

"Yes."

"Alright, Christina. Now that we know where you have met Liam Olmstead, can you tell us how this video came about?"

"Um…" I stared around the courtroom finally feeling my nerves kicking in. _What if I say the wrong thing?_ I hadn't even thought about that. "Well, uh…when I found out what Liam had done to Callie, I felt sick about it… I felt sick because I had been communicating with him via text after the party. I didn't know about it until a couple of weeks after I met him. So, I thought that if I could get him to… to show that side of him on camera, it could help Callie get the justice that she deserved."

"So. Are you telling me that you believed Callie?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Why did I believe her?" I ask in confusion.

"Yes."

"Because she didn't have a reason to lie about it. Why would she lie after she already moved out of his residence? That just doesn't make any sense to me."

"So, she wouldn't do this for attention. Would she?"

"Callie's not that type of girl. She was just trying to help Sarah, the Olmstead's new foster-daughter, get out of a bad situation. She knew what was going to happen and she tried to prevent it."

"So, Callie Jacob was only trying to help someone else. Is that correct, Miss. Infante?"

"Yes."

"And so were you, when you decided to go through with this plan to get footage of Mr. Olmstead?"

"Yes."

"Was any of this footage altered in anyway?"

"No."

"Was Mr. Olmstead compelled to behave a certain way throughout the video?"

"Not at all."

"Did you ask him to attack you?

"No."

"Did you ask him to pull you by your hair?"

"No."

"How about asking him to choke you?"

"No."

"So, Mr. Olmstead did all of those things, without being compelled, without being asked to do any of them, and on his own volition."

"Make that a question, Mr. Davis."

"I'm sorry, your honor… I think I'm done with this witness," Mr. Davis finished, as he walked back over to the table where Callie was sitting.

* * *

The judge turned his attention to Liam and his lawyer, "Does the defense have any questions for this witness?"

"Yes, we do, " Mr. Harass answered as he walked over to the witness stand, "Miss. Infante, you've stated that you met my client at the same party that he "allegedly" threatened Callie, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Did you witness the encounter between Miss. Jacob and Mr. Olmstead?"

"…No," I answer with an annoyed voice. _What the hell was his deal?_

"So, you don't know that it actually took place?"

"I'm not certain, but—"

"You're not certain?" Mr. Harass asks. "When do you think this encounter took place? My client is claiming that he was with you the entire time."

"That's not true. He left to get me another drink. And he was gone for at least 10 minutes or more."

"Was this an alcoholic drink?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" I ask.

The judge spoke next, "Yes, Mr. Harass. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Goes to the credibility of the witness. If she was intoxicated during the night in question, I think that's pertinent information."

The judge nods his head, "Alright Miss. Infante. Please answer the question, and I will remind you that you are under oath."

"Um…it was a beer. But I wasn't drunk."

"You were drinking, but you weren't drunk," Mr. Harass states sarcastically.

"Was that a question?" I retort with an attitude.

"No, Miss. Infante. I apologize… So are you telling the court that you didn't witness the altercation, but you knew what happened? So, you're psychic?"

"No, but—'

Mr. Harass doesn't allow me to finish, "May I ask you how you met Callie Jacob?"

"She's my foster-sister."

"Your foster-sister. So you two are close?"

"Not that close, to imply that I would do this for some stupid plot of revenge."

"I didn't say that, Miss. Infante."

"But you're insinuating it," I snap. "You're saying that we forced Liam to participate in this video. But that's not what happened."

"No… What about your foster-parents?" Mr. Harass asks as he looked over to Stef and Lena, who were both looking at him in confusion.

"What about them?" I ask in a flat tone.

"Did they convince you to do this? I mean, one of your foster mother's is a police officer correct? She could've used her authoritative position as both your foster-parent and her position as a police officer to compel you to do this. Is that what happened, Christina?"

"No! That's not what happened, you idiot!" I yell as I glare at Liam's lawyer. "She yelled at me after I told her about it, so stop pulling stuff at our your ass!"

"Miss. Infante, I'm going to need you to calm down," the judge cautions sternly.

"But he's pissing me off," I complain to him.

"I'm not going to ask you again," the judge orders.

I take in a deep breath and turn my attention back to Mr. Harass, "Are you finished with your dumbass questions?"

Mr. Harass smirks, "Miss. Infante, who else was there with you the night the video was taken?"

"My other foster sister, Mariana. My friends, Tasha and Shanelle. And my friend Jasper."

"So all people of whom you're friends with, correct?"

"Yes."

"Was Jasper the guy that pointed the gun at my client?"

Stef, Lena, and Callie all straightened in their seats.

"What?"

"The guy that held a gun to my client's head. Who was it?"

"Jasper didn't do anything. And there was no gun. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Maybe not once the tape was rolling, because it was cut-off immediately for a reason, wasn't it? Someone pointed a gun to the back of my client's head. Was it Jasper?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"May I remind you that you are under oath, Miss. Infante."

"Uhuh."

"Did someone point a gun to the back of my client's head, to compel him to participate in this video!?" he yells.

"Objection. Badgering the witness," Mr. Davis complains. _Finally, the bastard said something._

"No," I answer. "Your client did everything on his own free will. There was no gun. And Jasper did not threaten his life with this "supposed weapon" that you're talking about."

"YOU LYING BITCH!" Liam yells as he stood up from his seat and pointed his finger at me.

"Mr. Harass, control your client before I put him in contempt… Is Mariana in the courtroom?"

Stef and Lena watched worriedly as Mariana raised her hand and stood up, "Mariana. Was there a gun involved?" the judge asked.

Mariana answered sternly, "No, your honor. There wasn't."

To be continued…


End file.
